Collier, one of the state's newer counties, was created in 1923 and named for Baron G. Collier, a Memphis-born millionaire who came to southwest Florida and became a major developer of what had been little more than frontier settlements.

The area's past is commemorated in the Collier County Museums, located in Naples, Immokalee and Everglades City.

The Naples museum, located near the county courthouse, contains exhibits on the scope of the region's history as well as items such as a logging locomotive, swamp buggies and a World War II Sherman tank.

The Immokalee museum is a 15 - acre site that tells the story of the area's cattle ranching history, while the Everglades City museum tells the story of humans in the Everglades.
All three county-run museums can be visited during a single day trip from Pompano Beach, or could be part of a weekend getaway.