Sunday Favorites: Florida's First 'Planetary Court'

Teed was a self-proclaimed religious leader who established himself as a divine trailblazer and adapted a series of ideas he called Koreshanity. He changed his name to Koresh (the Hebrew form of ÔCyrus’), He believed in cellular cosmogony, or that the Earth was hollow containing the entire universe, including the sun at its center, and that everyone living on the planet actually existed inside the surface of a hollow cell. In 1894 he lead his wealthy followers into the muggy wilderness of Estero, where they founded a commune called the Koreshan Unity.

Among other religious ideals, which were considered radical at the time, were that the Koreshan God was both male and female. His prophecy included a belief in reincarnation, celibacy, communal socialization organization, and equality of the sexes. The ideology attracted the attention of famous public figures like Thomas Ford, Thomas Edison, and famed horticulturalist Henry Nehrling, according to ÔThe Koreshan Unity’ a research article by The Florida Memory Project.

Teed purchased 320 acres outside of Estero and began setting up a community they called ”New Jerusalem.“ In 1904, the community incorporated the Town of Estero and embarked on a development project that included residences and a number of buildings including a publishing house, machine shop, bakery, art hall, general store, power plant, and Planetary Court.

Much like a city commission, the Planetary Court managed the Unity but was managed by seven women – a model that was unheard of at the time. The power plant not only supplied the Koreshan community with electricity but also provided surrounding townships and territories with electrical access.

The Koreshan community savored the fine arts. In the evenings, the community enjoyed classical music and Shakespearean dramas in their elegant Art Hall. Oil paintings by community members decorated the walls.

In 1898, Teed conducted an experiment on Naples Beach that showed the horizon curved up eight inches every mile, thus "proving" that the horizon was concave, not convex. The rectilinear he used for the experiment can be seen in the Art Hall, along with a hollow globe.

The Koreshan Unity had ambitious plans. With the purpose of recreating the Garden of Eden, Teed hoped the community would attract 10 million people. Unfortunately, only about 200 people made their home there.

Not everyone in the area was supportive of Teed’s community On October 13, 1906, while meeting some of his supporters at the Atlantic Coast training from Baltimore, a group of Koreshans brawled in citizens of Fort Myers. Teed tried to break up the quarrel and was severely beaten, suffering injuries from which he never fully recovered.

In 1908, he died three days before Christmas. His followers propped him up in a tin bath on the Art Hall stage, assuming he would resurrect himself after the customary three days and nights. Several days after Christmas, the Koreshans still remained hopeful.

Following the death of their charismatic founder on December 22, 1908, membership steadily declined, but the Koreshan Unity continued for many years under the leadership of loyal followers and members.

In 1960, Hedwig Michel, known as "The Last Koreshan," became president of the Koreshan Unity and began working with state officials to ensure the preservation of the site of their original settlement. The site became a Florida State Historic Site in 1961, a testament to the Unity's historic role in the development of Southwest Florida and its place in the overall history and development of millennial communities and communal utopias in the United States.

Hedwig Michel died in 1982, the last person officially admitted to Koreshan membership and the last to live at the site they had settled almost a century earlier.