Syble Sez
SUBMITTED BY THE BOCA GRANDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY – The Boca Beacon’s of the early 1980s included a column called “Syble Sez” based on local news of social events, business openings, family visitors,…
How the sailor and the island girl fell in love … a moment in time at Fugate’s celebrated
BY TONYA BRAMLAGE – In November of 2020, Gasparilla Magazine shared the story of local love birds John and Helen Brouwer with their readers. Theirs is truly a love at first sight classic tale if ev…
GICIA celebrates 50th anniversary with restoration of Sam Murphy Park
SUBMITTED BY THE GICIA- The Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association (GICIA) is pleased to announce that the restoration of the Sam Murphy Park has been completed. The GICIA is de…
Stories of early island fishing guides (Part II of II)
Part I of this series ran in the August 21 edition of the Boca Beacon. You can find it online at bocabeacon.com, or on our Facebook page with the same name. SUBMITTED BY THE BGHS- Boca Grande’s ear…
Stories of early island fishing guides (Part I of II)
SUBMITTED BY THE BOCA GRANDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY – Local guides have been taking guests fishing since the late 19th century. Among the early guides was Phalo Padilla, born in 1888, who was a guide a…
The Boca Grande Club early years: The 1970s and 80s
SUBMITTED BY THE BOCA GRANDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY – A November 1978 article in the St Petersburg Times announced the creation of a new development on Gasparilla Island, to be called the Boca Grande C…
First a school, then a community gathering place
SUBMITTED BY THE BOCA GRANDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY- The Community Center and the property around it have been an important gathering place for island people since it was built in 1929. Francis and Lou…
BGHS creates ‘the mother of all timelines’ for island history buffs
BY MARCY SHORTUSE- The Boca Grande Historical Society has done some timelines in the past, but primarily ones put together for specific times or events in history. Now, though, historians can brows…