Calostimucu Greets You as You Enter Punta Gorda

 

This large two-sided Indian sculpture was carved by Peter Toth from the remains of a monkey pod tree originally planted by Marian McAdow on property ultimately purchased by Fred Babcock for a Holiday Inn.  Calostimucu was commissioned in 1974 by Babcock after seeing Toth’s work in Georgia.  Calostimucu was Toth’s tenth project, and the only one with two faces – on one side a male, on the other a maiden.  Each has a symbolic animal coming from their heads, the male has a bison, the maiden, an eagle. The name of the statue is a combination of the two Native American tribes that lived in this area of Florida. 

Calostimucu was a fixture in front of the Best Western (formerly Holiday Inn) until Hurricane Charley destroyed much of the hotel in 2004.  New owners of the property wanted to replace the statue with a fountain, and for a time there was controversy over its disposition until it was finally moved in front of the relocated Freeman House right across the street, where it stands today.