Paul E. Holton Eco-Preserve and Accredited Arboretum

The Holton Eco-Preserve and Accredited Arboretum is located on the 12 and a half acre grounds of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Myers. The centerpiece of the Preserve and Arboretum is a pond circled with a collection of trees native to southwest Florida, such as the cocoplum, the red maple and sweet acacia.  Several varieties of oak are among the collection: water oak, willow oak, southern live oak, and beach sheoak. Beyond the pond is a wooded path which runs through a designated wetland. Trees in the woods are mostly bald cypress and slash pines.  Their mission is to maintain a natural oasis in a developed area, with an assortment of bushes and flowering plants but mainly of trees native to southwest Florida or compatible with this area without being invasive.

This land was gifted to their campus in 1997 by Paul E. Holton, founder of Holton Foods, Chicago.  For two decades it has been an eco-preserve. It inspired a curriculum for children called “Earth Wonders,” which focuses on the 7th principle of Unitarian Universalism: “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”