Alvarez-Smith Home Connects Estero to Its Roots

By D.K. Christi

 

Jeff McCullers remembers spending hours beneath his great-grandmother’s house, sitting in the cool sugar sand and watching the world from below.

As a young boy, he played beneath the elevated structure among spider webs, lizards, frogs and the occasional curious raccoon. He listened to footsteps crossing the wooden floors overhead and followed the maze of pipes and wires beneath the house, fascinated by how everything worked.

What he remembers most, however, is not the building itself but rather the life inside it.

“The home was alive,” McCullers recalled. “It was a gathering place for family, relatives and the community.”

Today, that same house, the historic Alvarez-Smith home built on Highlands Avenue in 1916, stands vacant and weathered. Thanks to the efforts of the Estero Historical Society and partners, it may soon begin anew when it is relocated to Estero Community Park, joining two other historic structures that once stood nearby.

As America marks its 250th anniversary, the effort to preserve the Alvarez-Smith house serves as a reminder that the nation’s history was built not only in famous cities and battlefields, but also in small communities where families worked, worshiped, celebrated and built lives together.

McCullers’ ancestors were among the early fishing families of Southwest Florida. His great-great-grandparents, Antonio Fernandez and Maria Rosa Silva Fernandez, immigrants from Portugal, settled on Mound Key in the 1890s after circumstances prevented them from continuing their journey to Tampa. They established a humble life built around fishing and family.

The family grew citrus, operated popular fruit stands and adapted to changing times. Rainwater collected in a cistern provided drinking water long before modern utility systems arrived.

For Estero Historical Society Board President Gail Langner, preserving the house is about preserving connections.

“If we don’t save some of these buildings from demolition, how will future generations connect with their roots?” she asked.

The organization has already succeeded in relocating and restoring two historic Highlands Avenue structures, a schoolhouse and a cottage, at Estero Community Park. The Alvarez-Smith house represents the final piece of that historic puzzle.

“Bringing the three buildings together would create more than a collection of old structures,” said Langner. “Together they tell the story of how communities begin: a house, a school and families.” From such simple beginnings, villages emerge, communities grow, regions develop. A nation takes shape.

“Tri-Town Construction is moving through the permits and renovations, anticipating the move soon,” said board member Bill Ribble.

Legacy investors are invited to support the project. The College of Life Foundation has helped substantially. Fun events and fundraisers are also scheduled.

“The relocation project has proven more complex and costly than anticipated,” said Ribble. “Extensive work is needed to return the structure as closely as possible to its original appearance — required for grants and donation tax purposes and also to meet modern preservation standards.”

When visitors walk through the restored home years from now, they may see more than old wood, windows and floorboards. They may imagine families gathering on the porch and neighbors sharing food after a long day. And they may discover that Estero’s story is also their legacy.

As America celebrates 250 years of history, the Alvarez-Smith house offers a powerful reminder that our national story is told in homes where ordinary people lived extraordinary lives.

Their daughter, Annie Fernandez, married Joaquin “King” Alvarez, a Spanish sailor and fisherman. They had five children altogether: Manuel, Rosaria, Antonio, Della and Raymondo. King and Annie built their house in Estero on Highlands Avenue in order for their children to be educated, as Mound Key had no teachers.

Eventually, only Della, her father and her baby boy were left in the family house.

Hugh Marvin Smith, a youth from South Georgia who made his way by boxcar travel during the Great Depression to pick fruit in Estero, married Della in 1938.  Hugh adopted her son, and they had two more children of their own. McCullers’ mother, Elizabeth Kay Smith, was born in 1939; his uncle, Raymond Andrew Smith, was born in 1941.

McCullers’ parents married in 1959 and moved to another home in the groves. His grandparents, Della and Hugh Smith, lived in the family home until their passing. 

The Alvarez-Smith home was part of Estero’s earliest neighborhoods, where many residents were related by blood, marriage or lifelong friendship. Generations of family members passed through its doors, raising children and sharing family life.

McCullers remembers his grandmother describing three cousins who served during World War II and did not see one another again until they returned home. Once reunited, they sat at the back table of the Alvarez-Smith house for three days, talking, remembering and celebrating their safe return.

Such stories illustrate why historic preservation advocates believe the home deserves saving: buildings alone do not create history. People do.

The Alvarez-Smith house also functioned as something of a community living room. The enclosed front porch became a nightly gathering place where neighbors stopped by, and often left with fresh citrus, homemade desserts or simply the comfort of friendship.

“The food was wonderful,” added McCullers. ” My grandmother was often considered the matriarch of the neighborhood.”

In many ways, the house reflected the values that helped build both Estero and America: hard work, family responsibility, community involvement and resilience.

Saving the Alvarez-Smith house is not simply about preserving a building. It is about preserving the memories, relationships and values that transformed a house into a landmark and helped build a community.