Montell (McBroom) Marra spent a lot of time in her
grandparents’ mid-century Richmond home on
Damficare Street while growing up. John LeFoy Brouwer
and Helen Sprott Brouwer (the daughter of Capt. William
Sprott) were from some of the original families who
came to the island. Helen was one of the seven daughters
of Capt. William Sprott, who ran the Boca Grande ferry
and owned businesses here.
“Our grandfather’s Tartan 27’ sailboat was parked
behind the house, it was named Piquero,” Montell
remembered. “We spent all of our summers, most
holidays and about three school years at their house. It
was a great street to be a kid on. We were allowed to
row the dinghy up to Whidden’s for a candy bar after
dinner on Friday nights. My grandfather rescued men on
two occasions who were capsized or had a sinking boat
out in the harbor. All of Boca Grande was our playground,
and we explored all the dirt back roads that used to be
here; there was a man who kept bees and sold honey
back there, an old jail cell and a couple of abandoned cottages.
My brother Houston and I would jump the train
and ride it all the way to the south end sometimes. It’s
amazing to think about, how things change so quickly.”
Montell also remembers the sting of the paddle when
she was called to the principal’s office at school and asked
what her address was.
“I was a bit of a smarty and stated the street name,
omitting the “street” part,” she laughed. “And I remember
when the lane that connects the three streets was sandy
and had a drainage canal along it. I thought nothing of
walking by mid-sized alligators on the way home from
the bus stop.”
In 1983 Terry Seitz bought the home he currently lives
in at the end of Damficare Street, called “Villa Cayos.” He
still has a photo of it when it was the very first home on
the street. He spent three years remodeling it to look like
the beautiful home it is today named “Villa Cayos.” He
said the name came from the Spanish phrase “house on
the point/cay.”
“I fell in love with the Dam streets and their unique
stature on the island, and the dead end street with its
highly reduced traffic,” Seitz said, “but I also liked the widemouthed
waterway in the backyard with 8’ deep boat
slips.
While neighbors have come and gone since the early
1980s, Terry said he has fond recollections of the many
unique people who have called the Dam streets home.
“I had great and unusual neighbors in those early years,
including Jack and Ruby Peterson, Walter and Bin