In 1869 the then 30 year old Chicago physician had a revelation that he was the Messiah. After changing his name to Koresh, he collected some wealthy followers and decided to recreate the Garden of Eden along the banks of the Estero River in Florida.

The Koreshan Unity grew to support 250 people, a group of seven female spiritual leaders sought the Almighty's council and ran the affairs of the community from this well-appointed house.

While the rank and file members lived in tents and shacks, after being separated from both their spouses and worldly goods, the Unity leadership enjoyed a much more privileged lifestyle.

Okay, so it wasn't the real Garden of Eden.

Looking across the grounds to the founder's house. The Koreshans imported exotic plants from all over the world and spent a lot of time trying to return the saw grass swamp to garden status.

Proposing a weird blend of science and religion, Koreshans believed the sun, moon and stars floated inside a hollow earth that was actually concave.

Apparently the stars and sun were merely a reflection of what's inside the earth's core. It sounds kooky now, but back there were several groups that believed this theory.

What the unity really proved is that you can do some serious development with unpaid labor and, if you want to live like a king, start a religion. Eventually the space program proved, for the folks that still needed convincing, that the earth was, in fact, round.

If you weren't one of the elite, you'd probably end up working the grounds, the bakery which served up 600 loaves of bread a day, the laundry, or here at the machine shop. A central shaft provided belt drive power to a variety of saws and tools.

No expense was spared on the grounds. Fountains and ornate stone work have since crumbled but echo the once lavish beauty. The Unity used to feature a store and river boat dock and ran one of the only gas stations for years.

Cryus preached that celibacy would lead to immortality, a position challenged by his death three days before Christmas in 1908. Though followers waited several days after Christmas for his resurrection the health inspector put an end to the vigil.

This is a picture of the turtle, okay land tortoise. Supposedly endangered but these things are all over the park. The park is kind of dismal shadow of what it once was. Mildly interesting but ultimately historically insignificant.