Fort Denaud, Florida


Fort Denaud is a census-designated place and former fort in Hendry County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 1,694.

History

The fort was situated next to the Caloosahatchee River, east of Fort Myers. Troops established Fort Denaud in 1837, first on the south bank of the Caloosahatchee and in the 1850s on the north side. It is named in honor of Pierre Denaud, a French-Canadian trapper who had owned the land and had traded skins and hides with the Seminole prior to the Seminole War. In 1963, the swing-style Fort Denaud Bridge was built across the Caloosahatchee. The bridge and its current approach stands were put into place at mile 108.2 along Route 78A. On the north side of the river is Fort Denaud Cemetery. On the south side of the Fort Denaud Bridge is a historic marker.

Geography

The Fort Denaud CDP occupies the northwest corner of Hendry County. It is bounded to the north by Glades County, to the southeast by the city of LaBelle, and to the west by Lee County. Florida State Road 80 forms the southern edge of the CDP; SR 80 leads east into LaBelle and to Clewiston, and west to Fort Myers.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of, of which are land and, or 3.40%, are water. The Caloosahatchee River flows through the center of the CDP, running west to tidewater at Fort Myers.

Fictional references