Hank Browne was born in Connecticut, but schooled at the University of Virignia, where people put a
premium on restoration of old buildings. The twist is that Browne spent most of his life restoring churches ...
and then he owned Hell.
“I’ve done 30 or so churches,” Browne said. “The last church was Pohick Episcopal Church in Fairfax, which
was George Washington’s church. I think Hotel Hell is a landmark that’s not well known, and the building is
a testament to the construction skills of the railroad. It’s probably one of the least changed of the railroad
buildings on the island, except for the train station.”
Just after they bought Hotel Hell, Suzie Browne said she wanted to throw a party for everyone who had
ever lived there.
“I wanted them to come and write down their personal stories about the place,” she said. “The more I
talked to people around town, the more I realized we would have to throw a party for 1,000 people.”
“There are a lot of fl avors
on Boca Grande. The diffi cult
part is trying to fi gure out what
those fl avors are.
The whole community is
cockeyed when it comes to
conforming to existing
regulations.
Nearly every building in the
community somehow violates
existing regulations.
The buildings are too close
together. They cover too much
of their lots. The property isn’t
zoned correctly.
The list goes on and on.”
– Porter Goss, 1983
66 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE May/June 2020