KELLY FARRELL / Staff

Darrell March, Becka Gill and Walter Roche discuss the elements in Marco Island sands that indicate the island may have been shaped in-part by large African sand storms over the years. March, a 33-year resident of the island, shared theories and stories he's heard of the island's history and development with the Marco Island Historical Society Tuesday night at Mackle Park.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Local News

• Island business reaches agreement with school board over development of Tract K
• Quotes from Marco City Council's review of City Manager
• POLL: Marco Island to keep City Manager Steve Thompson

Share and Enjoy [?]

Could Marco Island’s beaches be the result of a large African sandstorm that occurred nearly one million years ago?

Longtime resident and engineer Darrell March says yes.

March shared stories of Marco Island’s history at Mackle Park Tuesday evening with a group of about 50 people, primarily members of the Marco Island Historical Society.

“Where we’re standing was once the middle of the woods,” March said.

March has lived on island for 31 years, brought here by a position as an engineer with the Deltona Corporation, the developer of the island.

“(March) has been here since the beginning,” said Darcie Guerin of the Marco Island Historical Society.

Actually, March said, the island was here and inhabited well before he came along.

The theories he shared were passed down he said from a close friend, Pat Hurley, who was a professor of geology at MIT before retiring on Marco Island. Hurley has since deceased, but not before he was able to share his theory of African sands creating Indian Hill on Marco Island along with other theories and stories with March.

Another historical storyteller, Frank Blanchard, the chairman of the first beach renourishment committee on Marco Island, also contributed to March’s knowledge and theories of the island’s history, March said.

The three lived at South Seas together swapping stories in the late 1970s and early 80s. As they swapped stories the beach front of their condominium appeared to be shrinking.

“We were in desperate need of beach renourishment,” March said.

He added that while he was working with developers on the island, he assisted Blanchard in seeking information about the island’s soil.

“I had poked more than 4,000 holes in the island. I thought I could share some dirt with him,” March said.

While looking at dirt the three men shared theories. Hurley’s theory, according to March, was that the soft yellow sands of Marco Island and the elevation of Indian Hill were created by African sandstorms.

“A real estate friend of mine said Indian Hill got built up by Indians with shells. There are no shells there. Where did it come from?” March asked.

Answering his own question, March said one of the options is that the soft, more yellow sands of Indian Hill came from African dust storms.

“African sand storms have come here in my duration enough to make the clouds grey. It wasn’t catastrophic or anything like would have had to happen a million years ago,” he explained.

Members of the Historical Society said they were intrigued by the idea and many thought it was a logical theory.

“It wasn’t just one sand storm,” said Hildegard Nickel.

Her husband Helmut added that according to a weather forecast he heard this week, another sand storm was on its way from Africa.

March also shared some of what he believed were the more commonly heard moments in Marco history, including the once tolled Jolley Bridge, the ferry that was once the primary way to the island before bridges, and earlier civilizations, including the Calusa Indians.

David Fieselman, a member of the Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS), asked March if he believed there were any springs on island.

March said he believed there were and further explained that fresh water would likely make its way down Indian Hill looking for an escape before reaching the water table.

There is likely a natural artesian well or spring at Indian Hill and maybe other places on Marco similar to springs and wells on Goodland, March said.

MIHS videographer Bill Hughes said March’s stories and theories would be among the artifacts to be stored at the MIHS museum once construction is complete.

“It will be there forever,” Hughes said.

March was born and raised in Central Illinois and earned a degree in engineering from the University of Illinois. He moved to Kissimmee Florida in 1970 and then Marco Island in 1977 working for Deltona Corporation before beginning his own consulting firm a year later.

More information about the Marco Island Historical Society and upcoming speakers is available on the organization’s Web site www.themihs.org.