Community History
How the sailor and the island girl fell in love … a moment in time at Fugate’s celebrated
February 6, 2021
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
October 16, 2020
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)
September 4, 2020
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)
August 21, 2020
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
August 7, 2020
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
July 10, 2020
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
June 5, 2020
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…
Historic District zoning and a potential marine district Part IV: Items to be addressed by the Boca Grande Community Planning Association
May 15, 2020
STAFF REPORT – Two questions on the recently completed Boca Grande Community Planning Association survey touched on land, or water use regulation: Zoning in the historic district, and the creation …
They call him ‘Dumplin’: Captain reminisces on the original Boca Grande
February 28, 2020
BY OLIVIA CAMERON – The Naples Sailing and Yacht Club visited the island to hear a special guest speaker, and they may have gotten more than they bargained for. “Captain Dumplin’ ” gave an inside l…
A Promenade compromise has been reached! ‘Stonehenge’ has been moved to allow safe passage
February 7, 2020
In an act of good faith and a love of our island community, the owners of the property located on the Promenade at 3rd Street and the beach have moved the rock structure that was blocking the hist…