Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Pineland, FL

Pineland is a tiny unincorporated community and census-designated place on the northwestern shoreline of Pine Island in Lee County, one of four communities - along with Bokeelia, Pine Island Center and St. James City - that make up the island.

Pineland had a population of just 466 at the 2020 census, up from 407 in 2010, within an area of less than one square mile.

Pineland sits on one of the most important archaeological sites in Florida: the Pineland Site Complex, the remains of a major town of the Calusa people, recorded under the name 'Tampa' on a Spanish map dated 1683.

The Calusa occupied the Pineland site for more than 1,500 years, building two extensive shell-mound complexes separated by a hand-engineered canal and a large water court, and living off the fish and shellfish of Pine Island Sound.

The Calusa were forced to abandon Pineland in 1710, and the great mounds sat largely undisturbed for nearly two centuries afterward.

The modern name dates to 1902, when Minta Martin established both the 'Pineland' name and the community's first post office - the post office building itself was later washed away by a storm in 1925.

Today about 70 acres of the ancient site are owned by the state and county and managed by the Florida Museum of Natural History through its Randell Research Center, which runs a visitor center, classroom and interpreted walking trail among the mounds.