Barefoot Williams

Not all of the roads in Collier County are named after the rich and famous. In fact, one road in our backyard is named for an area pioneer who was known for not wearing shoes.

Barefoot Williams, born John Archie Williams in 1883 in Sanalac, Michigan, gave up wearing shoes when he moved to Southwest Florida, where he lived until his death in 1962.

“I do know that he quit wearing shoes when they moved to Fort Myers,” said Teresa Johns Hutchinson, Barefoot’s great-granddaughter. “He established a fish camp there. He didn’t like the fish slime on his shoes. This is where he got his nickname, Barefoot Williams. By the time he moved to Henderson Creek and had the Oyster Shack, people only knew him by his nickname.”

Future generations of Southwest Floridians certainly will know of Barefoot Williams because of the winding road that leads from U.S. 41 at the Hitching Post Plaza and snakes northward and eastward, connecting with Tower Road. As recently as the early 1980s, Barefoot Williams Road and many other roads in that area of East Naples were dirt and gravel roads.

Barefoot Williams Road has quite a history. Around the turn of the century it was part of the first road to the single-car ferry that delivered cars from the mainland to Marco Island. Later Doc Loach, the founder of the Isle of Capri, built what is now S.R. 951, which was for many years was better known as Isles of Capri Road. That name slowly disappeared from everyday use after the first span of the Marco Island Bridge was constructed in 1969.

Barefoot Williams lived in the Henderson Creek area of East Naples, just to the south of Marco Island. Once planned to be part of the development of Marco Island, the area was spared from development largely by the efforts of Bernie Yokel, a marine biologist in Rookery Bay, who led the fight to save the area. The saving of the area was part of a landmark case by the Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1970s.

Back in Barefoot Williams’ day, the Henderson Creek area was a rugged area suited for hunting deer, bears, bobcats, and panthers. Of course, it was also great for fishing.

Williams opened his oyster shack in Henderson Creek, around the area that is now occupied by a KOA camp that is adjacent to the Rookery Bay headquarters.

Marco Island pioneer Faye Brown, who was born on the island in 1942, has childhood memories of Barefoot Williams. Brown recalls the one public place where Barefoot Williams was not barefoot.

"I just remember seeing him and his wife when I went with my dad to buy oysters for Combs Fishhouse, where my dad was working at the time,” Faye Brown said. "They also attended the Church of God that my family attended on 10th Street in Naples. I was a teenager so I didn't notice anything unusual about them. I believe that he did wear shoes to church. I know two of his great-granddaughters. One lives in Bonita Springs and one is on the coast of Georgia. They are sweet girls. I went to school with some of his grandchildren. Before his great-granddaughter Mary died, she made me a map of where the old school made of Palmetto's was located. It was before her time and mine, but she knew where it had been located.”

Barefoot Williams’ wife Jane made an impression, though she is remembered as a quiet person.

“He married Jane Wittenmeyer,” Hutchinson said. "I remember her well. The sweetest lady ever. Quiet spoken, not much to say, but said it all with her smile.”

"I remember her smile,” Brown said.

Barefoot Williams made his living collecting oysters in the Henderson Creek area, using a small boat with a small outboard engine to navigate the often-shallow waterways. Despite his fondness for going barefoot, Williams wore heavy rubber boots to harvest the razor-sharp oysters. His wife Jane often accompanied him, jumping onto the oyster bars, oyster knife in hand. 

The Williams moved to Florida from Flint, Michigan, in 1919. They arrived in Naples in 1937. They left Flint with eight children. That number grew to 15. 

In addition to working in the “oystering business,” Barefoot Williams kept bees and sold honey. He also caught rattlesnakes, which he sold for $1 a foot to Bill Piper’s reptile garden, according to an article in the Collier County News, dated April 9, 1959.

Barefoot Williams lived to age 79, passing in Thonotosassa, outside of Tampa, in 1962. His obituary, in the Sunday, August 5, 1962 edition of the Collier County News said, “Few people knew Barefoot’s real name, but he was known to literally thousands by his nickname. A sign bearing several painted prints of bare feet and the name “Barefoot” Williams has intrigued thousands of motorists traveling the Tamiami Trail east of Naples. Until a short time ago, “Barefoot” was known locally for the delicious oysters he gathered in nearby bays and sold to a select group of customers and friends.”