HISTORY
Fenwick) in early winter where we used to live in
summer, and there are about three or four families
there. It’s a paradise. I can imagine this must be
fascinating. I must come down during the summer
and see what it’s like.
I find the pelicans fascinating. We don’t really have
any up north. They really are a funny bird, aren’t they?
I was saying to Hughy Sharp, “That bird looks as
though it knows exactly what it’s doing.” I mean that
must be the most wonderful feeling. Hugh said when
he is reincarnated he hopes to come back as a pelican.
They fly with determination. They are terribly
funny. Very colorful. Oh look! There goes another pelican.
They’re fascinating. What’s the difference
between a white pelican and a brown pelican?
The white is larger. Has a wingspan almost as wide
as the California condor.
I tried to go out to that tiny islands (in the Intracoastal
Waterway near Cayo Pelau), but you can’t get
near them. I went out in a small boat, it’s very fast and
can go anywhere. We couldn’t get near them. We
have ospreys on the channel markers at home, just
like you do here.
Tell me what you think of
Boca Grande.
I’ve been to many places I think I might like, and
Boca Grande is one of them. I think it has a lot
of atmosphere and is very similar to a little place
where I was brought up, a place called Fenwick
at the mouth of the Connecticut River.
There’s something terribly attractive about life
in a place like this, especially when the visitors go
away. There’s a nice, easy-going atmosphere here.
It’s the kind of atmosphere I like to live in myself.
And I love the trees near the water. To sit here
like we are now with a tremendous view and a
tremendous amount of shade. (Two stately
casuarinas provide that shade over the Griswold
house owned by Sarasota architect George
Palermo.)
Boca Grande has an awful lot of atmosphere.
But the sea is encroaching on you, and the sea is
encroaching on me (at her home in Fenwick).
Three years ago when I first came, I was staying
at the Haskell’s, and we used to have a ladder and
I would climb down to the beach with the
greatest of ease. And now they’ve thrown these
stones there, which they had to do to preserve
it, and now there is no beach at all. There used
to be ten feet of beach.
It has been very turbulent this winter. When it
is, we swim offshore at the Sharp’s house or not
too far from the clubhouse. Last year I had a
house up in Stiltville with a big beach. But I don’t
like that as much, because I think it’s so funny
down here in a sort of town like this, and this is
beautiful (pointing to her view of the Gulf from
the back porch). At night, I sit and watch the
sunset on a lovely evening. It’s really unique. And
it’s quiet. And I enjoy tennis and relaxing.
Are you planning on living here
permanently?
Well, I do like it, but I don’t think I’d do well in
the off-season (summer) here, because I have no
skin to take the sun at all. I’d die. It must be
heaven (in Boca Grande during the summer
when the visitors leave). Now we live (in