Mud wrestling has taken on a new context for the Naples Florida Historical Society and its architectural ambassador for the city, the Historic Palm Cottage at 137 12th Ave. S., Naples. The day after Hurricane Ian, Elaine Reed, president and CEO of the Naples Historical Society, arrived to find her front porch piled high with at least a foot of silt, making it impossible to enter.

Reed spent six hours removing it. And that was just the beginning.

“The big issue for us has been the mud flood and the Gulf of Mexico seabed that found its way into every corner of the Palm Cottage, meaning it covered the Dade County pine floor. Every inch of it,” she complained.

Society staff put in 14- to 18-hour days cleaning the first floor, with what Reed calls “invaluable help” from the community.

Sometimes it came from unusual places. Reed had worked for the US government in Albania, loving the people and learning the language. She has maintained ties with Albanian communities in the US, including the Albanian-American Association of Southwest Florida.

So when the society put out a plea for volunteers, a friend in the society called Reed to tell her that “some” of its members would be out.

“Thirty-eight people showed up!” she marveled.

That concentrated effort made tremendous progress in sending out much of the mud, she said.

There are still landscapes to replant, historic furniture to restore and artifacts to clean. Last week, a wood restoration company was taking apart her floor, plank by plank rooted in mud, grinding away jagged nails and cleaning each one by hand.

“We are stewards of this house. And we’re going to do it the right way,” Reed said.

The society cannot give an exact date when the house will be opened, but hopes that it will still be this season. And she hopes to have the garden ready for the annual December fundraiser.

“Now more than ever,” she said.

The building itself remains a testament to its pioneering construction, she said: “This house was built in 1895. No windows were broken, no roof shingles were removed. No doors were removed. This place is strong.”