Vandalized Fort Myers Beach monument gets makeover

A stone monument built at the same time as the famous Fort Myers Beach arches got a makeover Thursday morning.

Vandals allegedly damaged the monument last week.

“It broke my heart…all I could do was stand there and cry. It just…it was unbelievable that people would do that to such a historical monument of Fort Myers Beach,” said Jane Luchi, vice president of Restore Fort Myers Beach Arches.

The stone monument near the base of the Matanzas Pass Bridge has been through a lot since 1924. And it suffered even more when it was vandalized last week.

“This looks like somebody just broke the rock and took it right off,” Luchi said.

But with the aid of local high school students, the monument is now looking better than ever.

“We put all native plants that were or could have been planted at the same time that the arches were. We wanted to make it look like the arches did in their glory,” Luchi said.

“They all seem very very excited to be there, they did an awesome job,” Luchi said of the students who helped out. “They even showed up early this morning so they could beat the heat and get it done right.”

Deputies say they’ll also be patrolling the area more in hopes of preventing this kind of thing from happening again.

“We know the monument is being watched a little closer now, which is great,” Luchi said.

The next fundraiser to restore the arches is “Rock the Arches” at Bonita Bills on May 5.