ESTERO, Fla. — Florida is known for its state parks, but not many have quite as strange a history like the one you can find in the small town of Estero.  

In this week's Florida on Tankful, we take a journey to the past through the eyes of a state park ranger.  

Each morning like clockwork, Park Ranger Nikki Ross sets out in her golf cart. 

“Yep, every morning we meet at the shop and everyone has their tasks they're going to be doing for the day," Ross said. 

Nikki's tasks usually involve surveying the grounds, which she has come to know quite well. 

“This was my first park service job. Yep, started in 2003,” she said.

Starting here in the great Fort Myers area, nearly two decades ago, but leaving for a spell to work in other state parks like Myakka River. 

Eventually though returning to her roots, something drawing her back very first job at Koreshan State Park. 

“The history and the area really ... the area of Estero is a really nice place and honestly just the history drew me back," Ross said. 

That history she is talking about one stranger than fiction. 

The buildings that litter a small part of the park from homes to a general store, even a blacksmith shop, all belonged to a religious colony started by Cyrus Teed. 

His followers first building in 1894 what they called the “New Jerusalem.” 

A pristine area of land, they hoped to live on and create a utopia all while practicing Koreshanity, a religion that believed the Earth was a hollow shell, also known as Hollow Earth Theory.

Certainly a unique religious colony, but not one typically looked at as negative. 

“Yes, Cyrus Teed was a leader who wanted people to follow him and his beliefs but they did also help the community and invite people in. They had a schoolhouse and taught local children so they were very much about education," Ross said. 

Education is something that state park rangers like Ross continue to uphold and preserve. For her the duties of a park ranger run deep, a job many may choose not to take, but for the ones who do, they share a lifelong connection with the heritage. 

“Just about any park ranger will tell you that some point in their life there was a love for nature whether it be the outside whether it be for the plants wildlife or history. So that's why we do this..It's a way to give back," Ross said. 

Koreshan State Park is open seven days a week from dawn to dusk. To see the settlement that is only open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m and for guided tours, you must call ahead.