TRAARVTEL
The Gasparilla Inn & Club
Florida As It Was Meant to Be
By Margaret Word Burnside and Aaron R. Fodiman
Photography by Gram and Noraa
Florida’s Boca Grande, located on the seven-mile long
Gasparilla Island that is less than a mile wide, had two
claims to fame by the 1890s: first, as the perfect place for
sport fishing, particularly for tarpon, and the second as a
place to load locally harvested phosphate on trains for worldwide
distribution. Both of these activities were in full swing in the
late 1890s. However, before 1909 there wasn’t much more on
the island than a lighthouse overlooking Charlotte Harbor.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 153
The Gasparilla Inn on Boca Grande has been
catering to those who appreciate the relaxed
Florida lifestyle for more than a century.
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