The path led across a watery prairie feathered with saw grass.
It was late in the day, and I was alone.
Great blue herons watched me from behind banks of water lilies.
A guide accompanies visitors on the park’s Cypress Dome Wet Walk.Credit:Rose Marie Cromwell
Dragonflies balanced on the tips of the grass.
A nightjar passed, flying low with its mouth open for insects.
But the simplicity is deceptive.
From left: Everglades National Park, as seen from a lookout in Everglades City; an alligator sunning itself in Shark Valley.Rose Marie Cromwell
The Everglades are a complex natural world, and one of the most biodiverse habitats in North America.
The Everglades have not always been a national treasure, a place of family adventures and happy campers.
He restoreth my soul.
From left: Signage in Everglades City; a cormorant in Florida’s Everglades National Park.Rose Marie Cromwell
The national park is the third largest in the Lower 48, behind only Death Valley and Yellowstone.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Importance.
Around a million people visit each year.
Cypress forest in Everglades National Park.Rose Marie Cromwell
I headed west on the Tamiami Trail, the original highway between Miami and Tampa.
It was late March, and temperatures were in the mid 70s.
Banks of clouds scudded away across the grasslands toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Breakfast in Everglades City.Rose Marie Cromwell
I began to feel the immensity of the place.
The Everglades are the result of an unusual and inefficient drainage system.
It is this sluggish flow that created the Everglades singular ecosystem.
From left: Lounging on a Flamingo Adventures houseboat; Flamingo Adventures captain Nick Segwick, who helps guests pilot houseboats onto Whitewater Bay.Rose Marie Cromwell
The construction of the Tamiami Trail in the 1920s blocked the waters flow.
In Everglades City, I parked on a quiet street bordered by manicured lawns.
In the 1920s and 30s, this was a busy stop on the Gulf Coast.
From left: Setting up at Long Pine Key Campground; canoeing on Hell’s Bay.Rose Marie Cromwell
But as development gradually ebbed away to Naples and other parts of the state, the population dwindled.
These days, Everglades City isnt much of a city: the 2020 census recorded a population of 352.
When I checked in I saw a huge alligator head, mouth agape, presiding over reception.
From left: Lunch on the porch of the Rod & Gun Club, in Everglades City; décor at the town’s Rod & Gun Club.Rose Marie Cromwell
When I checked in I saw a huge alligator head, mouth agape, presiding over reception.
Standing on the shore is the Smallwood Store, a trading post opened in 1906.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is now a private museum.
From left: Shark Valley’s observation tower; a barred owl perched in the cypress trees.Rose Marie Cromwell
Wherever he went, Watson left a trail of suspicious deaths behind him.
In Chokoloskee, his neighbors decided they had had enough.
One evening, vigilantes lay in wait for him at the landing stage of the Smallwood Store.
Flamingo Adventures glamping tents.Rose Marie Cromwell
It was dusk when Watson came up the channel in his small boat.
He docked and stepped ashore.
When he refused to put down his gun, the mob opened fire.
Egrets flying over Loop Road.Rose Marie Cromwell
No one was ever convicted.
The park road ends at Flamingo, on the shores of island-strewn Florida Bay.
A century ago, this was a rough-and-tumble place typically accessed by boat from the Keys.
From left: A snowy egret, as seen from Loop Road; Americana at the Smallwood Store, a museum in Chokoloskee.Rose Marie Cromwell
Nobody bothered giving the place a name until the opening of a post office necessitated one.
The settlers considered calling it the End of the World.
Instead they opted for Flamingo, for the birds that lived there in the spring and summer.
Park ranger Roxanne Zastrow showing off an alligator skull at the Guy Bradley Visitor Center.Rose Marie Cromwell
The visitors center is named for Guy Bradley, a hero of the Everglades.
Captain Nick Segwick piloted me through the Buttonwood Canal to Whitewater Bay.
There is a feeling of freedom down here, he said.
Flamingo Adventures houseboats.Rose Marie Cromwell
Thats what I love.
And with that he wished me good luck and stepped onto a motor launch back to Flamingo.
There was no one else out there, bar the occasional distant fishing boat.
Visitors inside the Smallwood Store.Rose Marie Cromwell
Sky and water seemed to merge.
The reflections of clouds drifted across the polished surface of the lake between the islands.
Above all, Whitewater Bay was defined by its vast congregations of birds.
White terns swept elegantly back and forth, diving suddenly on sprays of bait.
Black skimmers swooped low over their own reflections.
Pelicans bombed into the water like boys at a public swimming pool.
Cormorants perched on dead branches, spreading their wings to dry.
Stalking the shorelines were herons, curve-billed ibises, sandpipers, and whimbrels.
At sunset, the bay became stained with color until darkness gradually advanced across the water.
A dense canvas of stars spanned the horizon.
If you peered into the water, you could see them there, trembling on its surface.
A universe of constellations, come down to meet Americas last great watery wilderness.
It also rents bikes, canoes, and kayaks.
Ranger-Led Programs: Guided hikes, swamp walks, and kayak trips are offered daily throughout the national park.
