Isla Mujeres History

    Isla Mujeres was still a relatively young community in 1876, when archeologist Augustus le Plongeon lived here briefly with his young wife, Alice. The town of Dolores had been established twenty-six years earlier, by ~50 families fleeing the Caste War. In the early 1800's, the isle had been a temporary base for pirates & fishermen, without permanent settlements.      He described downtown as consisting of ~500 thatch huts ( ? that number sounds high, maybe a typo for 50? About 50 families founded the town in 1850. ), sitting in a grove of palm trees, with three sandy streets running north & south, with the main one ending at the cemetery. He said there were only about a dozen more substantial homes, made from stone and mortar, but these were also thatched with palmetto leaves. The houses were separated by courtyards, and some families proudly grew rose bushes & other flowering shrubs in the sandy soil.    ...