Mercenaries, and now millionaires, called island home - Museum recalls Useppa's Cold War past as staging ground for failed Bay of Pigs attack

Written by: Joe Cote
Publicized in: Special to the Star
Publication Date: September 27, 2007

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USEPPA ISLAND, FLA. The dolphins joined us soon after our ferry left McCarthy's Marina on Captiva Island. They had been waiting to catch the bow wake, and a family of three surfed along, encouraged by the cheers of everyone on board.

 

'The dolphins provide most of the entertainment,' says Tom Jones, our guide. 'I just fill in the gaps.'

 

Jones, from Cleveland, is yet another Northerner who has escaped winter to work the boats that cruise the intra-coastal waterway.

 

'This boat,' he says, 'is where the dolphins come to see humans in captivity.'

 

It turns out that Pine Island Sound on Florida's southwest coast is home to 300 dolphins, one of the few places in the world with a permanent population.

 

On this day the little coaster is headed for Useppa Island, known for its multi-millionaires and mercenaries.

 

The millionaires are easy to spot, their mansions are dotted along the coast. For the mercenaries you have to check out the island's museum.

 

It was created by Barbara Sumwalt, a retired marketing director for Tiffany's in New York. She meets us at the dock with a warm 'come and see my pride and joy' and then explains: 'When we came here my husband wanted to fish and I didn't, so I started a museum.'

 

And what a little gem it turns out to be, revealing 10,000 years of history.

 

Useppa is one of a cluster of islands and sandbars claiming to be the oldest continuously settled area in North America.

 

Archeologists have found evidence of mastodons, giant sloths, and prehistoric turtles. The earliest settlers, Calusa Indians, built canals and 25-metre high pyramids that remain today. These very religious people were taller and stronger than Spanish explorers, but succumbed to disease brought ashore by the conquistadores.

 

By the 1900s, Useppa had become a hideout for the rich and famous, from Rockefellers and Vanderbilts, to Shirley Temple and Zane Grey. An inn was built but later abandoned.

 

Then, a Cold War event put it back on the map.

 

By 1960, Fidel Castro, the one-time folk hero who had even appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, was on Washington's hit list, and the CIA was scheming to take back Cuba. The vast, shallow Pine Island Sound just off Fort Myers was a perfect place to plan a war. It is just over a meter deep.

 

(On the cruise over, Jones had confirmed this: 'If you fall in watching those dolphins play, don't worry. Just stand on the bottom.')

 

Useppa was leased by the CIA and Brigade 2506 was born.

 

Here, hidden from prying eyes, the invaders and their landing craft rehearsed for their assault on the Bay of Pigs.

 

The operation turned into a fiasco and an embarrassment for the Kennedy Administration. U.S.-Cuban relations have never recovered.

 

What remains today on Useppa is a fascinating museum full of uniforms, boots, maps and photos. Nearby is the inn where the CIA trained the communications teams.

 

Nowadays, the restored Collier Inn is a good stop for lunch, gentle fans churning the humid breezes from the Gulf of Mexico.

 

After the Bay of Pigs, Useppa was bought by four families who live there year-round. It is now an exclusive enclave for a handful of millionaires.

 

And a museum to a tragic adventure.

 

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