HISTORIC BOCA GRANDE
(Lee County) and (Charlotte County)
FISHING VILLAGE TURNED RESORT
BOCA GRANDE, on the dual county island at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, is best known as America's tarpon fishing center. Other than a small phosphate export port, Gasparilla Island was famous for its fishing plutocrats until the construction of a private toll bridge by Robert Baynard in 1955 and the discovery of the isolated island's charms by successful Tampa Bay area professionals who could build expensive beach villas a few hours from metropolis.
THE SOUTHERN BEACH is the 13 acre Gasparilla Island State Park. You'll have to walk down the beach to the beautiful GASPARILLA ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE (1890) and its matching keeper's house. By the parking lot is a little seaman's chapel, popular for waterside weddings.
The island's pride, at the corner of Fifth Street and Palm Avenue, is the: GASPARILLA INN (1912), a large pale yellow frame Victorian hotel with a Classical portico and a colony of cottages and rooms built around the golf course.
An Arcadia phosphate executive Peter Bradley allied with James F. Gifford, President of the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad, to build the luxury winter resort. It's hotel registrar may read like a "Who's Who", but you won't get to read it for low key privacy is the rule here.
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE is at the end of the block and on your right is the POST OFFICE. On your left is FUGUTES (1916), the town's mini-everything store founded by Jerome Fugate Sr., and visited by everyone sooner or later.
Across Fourth on the right is the famous ) BOCA GRANDE RAILROAD DEPOT (1910), an impressive two story structure which now houses antique and gift stores and an ice cream parlor/restaurant. The brick structure with the arcaded loggia was the last depot for the Charlotte Harbor & Northern Railway.
As you cross over the Boca Grande Causeway, you'll begin to notice that time seems to move at a slower pace. The world you're used to, the one filled with fax machines, voice mail and fast food3; it all disappears. What you'll find once you cross the three small bridges leading to Boca Grande, is a seven-mile island which retrains the "Old Florida" lifestyle that fosters relaxation and an environment of tranquility. 
Boca Grande is world-renown for its concentration of tarpon and excellent fishing opportunities; but there is so much more to the island. Pristine white-sand beaches and cool, clear teal waters await boaters as well as sunbathers and shell hunters. Open-air restaurants, an olde-world bakery, and gourmet cuisine meets every visitors' need and taste. A multitude of galleries feature local artists who capture the feel of the island in oils, pastels, & watercolors. And there are numerous gift shops which pique the curiosity with their unique gifts from around the world.
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Tarpon Fishing Run Late April -August
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Little is known about the tarpon and proves that this prehistoric animal is one very interesting creatures in the sea. The tarpon is the only fish with an air bladder which allows it to absorb oxygen and live in waters with almost no oxygen content. It belong to the bony fish family Elopidae. This #200 Giant is 44"in girth and 86" in length.
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