Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Fort Denaud, FL

Fort Denaud is a census-designated place and former military fort in the northwest corner of Hendry County, sitting on the Caloosahatchee River about 27 miles east of Fort Myers.

The original Fort Denaud was established in the late 1830s as a supply depot during the Second Seminole War, built as one of a chain of posts linking American operations south of Tampa to Florida's east coast.

Fort Denaud was named in honor of Pierre Denaud, a French-Canadian trapper and trader who owned the land and had traded skins and hides with the Seminole before the wars.

Fort Denaud was reopened in 1855 during the Third Seminole War and became a headquarters for federal troops, but a fire ravaged the post in June 1856, it was rebuilt on the north bank of the river, and it was finally abandoned in May 1858.

A farming community based on citrus and sugarcane grew up around the old fort and kept its name.

The swing-style Fort Denaud Bridge, built in 1963, still carries traffic across the Caloosahatchee River, with the historic Fort Denaud Cemetery on the river's north side.

Fort Denaud first appeared as a census-designated place in the 2010 census, and its population grew from 1,694 in 2010 to 2,049 in 2020.

Fort Denaud has 814 households, but the 2020 census counted 1,252 housing units there - about 35% of them vacant, many held for seasonal use.

Fort Denaud sprawls across about 21 square miles of mostly rural land - over 90% of its residents were classed as rural in 2020 - and its median age of 51 reflects its many retirees and winter residents.

A scene from the 1995 film Just Cause, starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne, was filmed in Fort Denaud.