The island is about 2.5 miles long and is anywhere from a
quarter-mile to a half-mile in width. You can visit the beaches, as
they are public up to the mean high water line, but the rest of
the island is private.
There are an incredible amount of rental opportunities on
the island, so learning about Little Gasparilla Island fi rsthand is
a very easy thing to do. Just give it a Google and you’ll fi nd out
more.
The island was named for the same pirate Gasparilla Island
was named for – Jose Gaspar. Because Little Gasparilla adjoins a
pass that is deep enough to accommodate a man-of-war ship,
it is rumored that pirates would hide in the mouth of Gasparilla
Sound and watch for merchant ships sailing by in the Gulf of
Mexico.
The history of how Little Gasparilla Island came to be populated
is sketchy at best. One of the best sources of information
is a book called “What is Little Gasparilla Island? The Stories,
the Legends, the Lives 1909-2016.” The beginning of the book,
which includes the history of the island, was written by Ruth
McElya, the daughter of William McElya.
William and his family came to Florida some time right
around 1900, from Metropolis, Illinois. Through a span of several
years the family moved from town to town, and eventually William
came to Sarasota. He got his captain’s license and hauled
mail, groceries, freight and people back and forth from his home
port of Sarasota Bay. He saw Little Gasparilla Island for the fi rst
time when he was accompanying a surveyor by the name of
Gullet on a trip to survey the railroad in Boca Grande. They
camped on the southern end of Little Gasparilla Island, and
from that point on William thought it would be a good place
for the family. They set up a home as its fi rst American inhabitants
(not including the possibility of Spanish pirates and Native
American people who might have lived there in years before).
There was a rudimentary fi shing shack on the island when they
moved there, but nothing else.
This was during a time when the railroad trestle to Gasparilla
Island was still being built. Boca Grande was only a tiny village at
the time, the phosphate bins at the south end were just being
built. The McElya family built their home, a wharf and wharf
house, started a garden and a turtle corral of sorts (they called
it a “turtle mart” in this historical account). William purchased
the remains of the 20-room Tarpon Inn in Grove City that had
burned down in 1906 and hauled the lumber by boat to build
the house.
They ate fi sh and clams frequently, and had oysters in the
winter months. They raised a small amount of livestock in the
area where the two little lakes are at Hide-Away Bay condominiums.
42 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE November/December 2019
Above, a sign for the gallery.
This colorful dock
leads visitors to the island
from their boats, giving them
an immediate feel of whimsy.