History of Chateaux Sur Mer
CSM was founded by Ed and Anne Akers Conrad when they built their house here in 1962. Anne's family had been coming to Sanibel for many years. Her father was a lawyer in Nashville who came to Sanibel to fish. In the later 1920s and early 1930s he bought all of the land along the Gulf to the west of San-Cap Road including what is today Tradewinds, Sea Spray, Gulf Ridge, Tahiti Shores, Chateaux Sur Mer and portions of Gulf Pines. The price was 25 cents an acre!! Anne recounted that after her parents died, she and her brothers were given an option of which part of the estate they wanted. The boys chose stocks, bonds and two 12 cylinder Packard cars. She only got this spit of sand, essentially worthless and full of mosquitos. At that time, all the roads on Sanibel were dirt and sometimes impassible, there was no causeway so everything had to come over by boat. Later the family deeded a portion of the original property to SCCF as a buffer for Chateaux Sur Mer. There was a commemorative plaque named the Akers Tract on San-Cap road between CSM and Gulf Pines.
Anne Akers Conrad was born in Nashville, TN. She attended Vanderbilt University for one year before transferring to Vassar. Her brother was a midshipman at Annapolis and that was how she met Ed Konrad who was also a midshipman. One year after he graduated they were married in a full dress ceremony at the Naval Academy. Two of Anne's brothers were there and they both became Admirals. As a Navy family, the Konrad's life included living in Pensacola, Norfolk, Washington DC, San Diego, Seattle and Panama. They also spent time in Amsterdam. European travels gave an Anne a love for everything French, including the House of Bourbon. That passion would later be evident in Chateaux Sur Mer.
In the late 1950s, Ed retired and the couple moved to a rented home on Jamaica Drive. Speculation is that is why the first road came in from the end of Jamaica Dr, following the upper tide line along the beach to the spot where the Konrads planned to build their home. Ed hired a contractor to cut the first access path into his property which went to the beachfront site he selected. That road was called Rue Belle Mer. Today if you walk to the end there is still a narrow foot path into the Tradewinds. That home was completed in 1962 and was called Chateau d'Orleans. It featured the purple colors of the Royal House of Bourbon. The CSM signs were originally purple. Anne was also responsible for the French names in the community. Chateaux Sur Mer translates to Castles by the Sea. She named the area this because Anne felt your home is your castle. Her home Chateau d'Orleans with its distinctive purple colors was her castle until she passed on December 10, 2009. Among her many accomplishments was starting the community as a laid back, unpretentious place, maintaining the natural beauty of old Florida.
After the Konrad's home was completed, Ed laid out a plan for the subdivision:
- Section A were the beach front lots
- Section B were the lots between Rue Belle Mer and Rue Bayou, many of which border on the bayou
- Section C were the parcels on the left side of Rue Bayou
- Section D were the lots on Rue Helen and later Lac Claudine
- Section E was known as Akers Preserve which was donated to SCCF
In 1967/68 Ed created the picturesque lake he had envisioned. He contracted a Ft Myers firm to dig out the future body of water and used the dirt as fill to build what is now the entrance road into CSM as well as much of Rue Bayou which was originally an actual bayou. The lake became the headwaters of the Sanibel River. Lac Claudine was named after the daughter of two early residents, Rolf and Heidi Steffen of Switzerland. They built on lot A4 on the beach. Rolf was a renowned professor of physics at Purdue and a member of Los Alamos Atomic Bomb Research Group. The Steffen's daughter, Claudine, was strikingly beautiful, and since Ed thought the lake was a gorgeous sight he named it after her.
As the Lake was being created, another portion of the subdivision was being developed. After WWII, a series of bayous had been dug as a means for mosquito control. One of the larger bayous was a continuation of the stream which now flows across from Lac Claudine. Originally, it continued alone the left side of Rue Bell Me and then flowed into what is now Rue Bayou. This is when Section B and C were developed.
The final section along Lac Claudine was then developed. As the roads were being named, another charming young lady came to the Admirals attention, Helen Armstrong, the daughter of residents George and Reina Armstrong, who built in 1966 on lot A11. Helen who was 4 yrs younger than Claudine Steffens asked Ed what was so special about her that a lake was named after her, he immediately named the new road Rue Helene. A connection between Rue Belle Mer and Rue Helene was cut out and name Rue Ruelle or Mini Street. Dr and Mr. Simmons moved onto a house on lot D1 at the end of what looked like a driveway, they asked Ed to call the road Rue Royal and so he obliged.
As CSM grew, it became apparent there was a need for some form of organization. In 1965 the Konrads established the Chateaux Sur Mer Improvement Association. This was a low-keyed group. Meetings were cocktail parties with few minutes kept!!! They did develop some minimal community standards and covenants. In 1969 the association was formalized and registered with the Lee County Clerk's office as a not-for-profit neighborhood association.
Each year we celebrate our history with the annual Admiral's party!