![]() (These are physical addresses, not mailing addresses.) The ghosts in Bokeelia, they’ve decided, are friendly. Such spooky activity doesn’t bother the waitstaff in the least they just laugh and shake their heads. Doors open and close at random, and the men’s bathroom reportedly locks itself from the inside. It’s the only restaurant in town but offers good food with a lovely sea view-and a few ghosts as well. It costs $8 to fish and no strolling allowed.īut stop at Capt’n Con’s Fish House, located in what was once a private home and then the first post office. This village is about as Old Florida as it gets and feels truly remote with only a few small condo complexes, commercial fishing enterprises, tour boats, and a picturesque 100-year old fishing pier. ![]() Soon you’ll reach the northern end of the island, the tiny village of Bokeelia which looks out towards Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island (on a good day) and to Little Bokeelia Island, a private island which recently sold for $14 million. (Photo: Bonnie Gross) The village of Bokeelia on Pine Island The Trail is less than a mile, and you can view the scenery from the top of a 300-foot Calusa shell mound.Īn osprey on its next at sunset at the pier in Bokeelia on Pine Island. Walking the trail transports you even further back in time, 2000 years ago when the Calusa Indians made this their home. Located conveniently across the street from Tarpon Lodge is the Randell Research Center (part of the Florida Museum of Natural History), with its Calusa Heritage Trail. Here you can take the short hop to Cabbage Key, another historic inn and restaurant (owned by the Wells, who also own Tarpon Lodge), Cayo Costa State Park, and Boca Grande. Next door is Pineland Marina which offers boat trips and water taxis to nearby islands. Sit in the bar with a tarpon over the stone fireplace (Rumrunners especially recommended), or outside overlooking the water. Renovated rooms are available not only in the lodge, but also in an adjacent boat house and cottage breakfast is included.Įverything about Tarpon Lodge shows attention to detail: the lobby is beautifully restored, and the restaurant offers award-winning cuisine. Tarpon Lodge was built in 1926 as a private home and has been an inn for decades–President Jimmy Carter and 23 family members once vacationed here. Then, as you come around a curve, you’ll see Tarpon Lodge. Named for the whips of early Florida cowboys, these are small wooden houses with distinctive front porches. As you continue on, you’ll pass Old Florida homes, and “cracker houses” in varying states of repair. You’re close now to the village of Pineland, population 400, with its charming post office. You can buy pesticide-free mangos, preserves, chutneys and honey from the dedicated family who operate this stand. Soon, you’ll see Promised Land Mangoes, the old Pineland Mango Grove first planted in the 1950s. Turn left at mile marker 12 onto Pineland Road. A two-day summer festival, “MangoMania” is held every year and there’s even a MangoMania queen. Pine Island has long been appreciated for its fertile land, and has long been supplying the entire state with palm trees, landscape plants, vegetables, and fruits. As you drive along the island’s main street, Stringfellow Road, you’ll soon see what Pine Island is really all about: fields and fields of tropical fruit groves and commercial nurseries. You’ll also find a few restaurants and small B and B’s.īut if you haven’t come for fishing, then hang a right. Here, you’ll find professional fishing guides, charter boats, kayaks and fishing boat rentals - the waters around Pine Island are renowned for fishing. ![]() James City, the most populated village on Pine Island (again, relatively speaking) and the center of fishing and watersports activities. (Photo: Bonnie Gross)Īfter that, you have two choices: A left turn takes you to St. The dining area of the Tarpon Lodge overlooking the water on Pine Island. And that means people left Pine Island sort of as they found it. Where the sand builds pretty beaches, people follow. Sanibel and Captiva are south and west of Pine Island also west is the island of Cayo Costa, where a state park protects miles of pristine sandy beaches, and northwest is Boca Grande, where millionaires have homes on shell-laden sandy beaches. ![]() In contrast, Pine Island is surrounded by the islands where that sand did wash up. As a result, the tourist economy never flourished here-there are no traffic lights, no chain hotels or restaurants, only about 8,000 residents, and hardly any tourists. Mostly arable land bordered by mangrove trees, it wasn’t even on the radar during the Florida Land Boom years, and the railroad that brought pioneers to the west coast was miles away.ĭevelopers never coveted its sandy beaches-because there aren’t any. Pine Island, the largest island in the entire state, is 17 miles long and two miles wide. ![]()
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