‘Octopus tree’ to be discussed by Historic Preservation Board

The Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board has just one item on the agenda this month for their meeting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 14 in the Community Center auditorium, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be brief. The saga of the property at 161/181 Gilchrist Avenue, owned by the Adam family of Texas, continues with a discussion about the validity of attempting to name a tree there as historic. At the Board’s last meeting, one of their members, Becky Paterson, expressed concern for the banyan tree on the east side of the property by the sidewalk known to some as “The Octopus Tree.” It was named as such back in the 1920s and ’30s by the island children who used to climb it.