Parceling out our past: Another look at the area’s expansion
“People used to live there – real, working people – and that is what is not being preserved.”
– Melissa knight
Melissa Knight’s family have lived on the Cape Haze Peninsula for generations; the last names in her family tree read like a local history book – Knight, Cole, Albritton, Schwerm, Dixon and Nabers. Many of them still live on the peninsula and in Charlotte County, while others are spread out across the southern states. They may have different opinions on a lot of things, but there is one topic they can all agree on – the “vacation destination” growth that has occurred in this area is not always for the best. That doesn’t mean, though, that they are against growth of any kind, including the proposal made by Charlotte County commissioners to buy four parcels of land across from the Boca Grande Causeway for boat ramp and kayak launch expansion.
“The area just isn’t the way it was,” Knight admitted. “They’ve taken the working-class economy out of the area; there’s no families here like there used to be. People are turning this place into a vacation destination and in a lot of ways it makes the economy stagnant. The working people, what are they going to do?”
Two of the properties up for discussion are owned by Knight’s family members. The first, owned by Blenda Cole (Knight’s aunt) is one lot over to the north of the old Grande Tours facility. Blenda still lives on Placida Road with another relative, Helen Cole, who is Knight’s grandmother. Her home was built on the water in 1946, two years after the big hurricane of 1944 and has been in the family ever since. The property Cole owns that county commissioners are looking at is 12565 Placida Road, which was appraised in January of this year at $1.1 million. The land pretty much remains as it always has – untouched and wild, home to plants, animals and birds. While it was never a family homestead or used for much, it is still part of the family’s legacy.
The second parcel, which is to the north of Blenda Cole’s property and was appraised in January at $677,000, is owned by Thomas Knight (Melissa’s father). Melissa grew up in that house, so it has special meaning to her.
In fact, the entirety of the area was Knight’s stomping grounds as a child. It’s an interesting fact to note that it was because of one of her family members that Placida even exists.
“The reason Placida is there is because when they dug the ICW, that fill is what filled Placida,” she said. “My grandfather negotiated that deal. The channel that runs out of Dixons (Eldred’s Marina) used to be parallel to the causeway. A lot of that has been altered by man, not that that’s a bad thing.”
Knight’s family used to own most of the Cape Haze Peninsula. At one time they owned all the way up to the telephone company building by the Publix on Placida Road. Knight’s great-grandfather, Gus Cole, sold the land where Placida Harbor is when there was just one house there. Her grandfather’s shop was located where the Mercabo Preserve is now. Bert ran the public water taxi (for people, not cars) before the bridge to the island was built. Once the bridge was built, he was hired to be the bridgetender.
The Margaret Albritton Gallery that was located on The Fishery property was in an old building originally built by Gus Cole. It was originally a post office and Gus’s daughter Gussie was the first postmistress. There was also an old IGA grocery store there.
Knight said when the Mercabo facility was at its peak it brought people from Sarasota down to the peninsula for jobs. When the fish house at The Fishery was thriving, it employed many, many people; so many, in fact, Walter Gault bought land from Knight’s family right near the commissioners’ proposed properties, to build homes for Fishery workers. Right on Coral Creek, it was a little enclave called Thunderation (if you have been here for several decades, you’ll remember the little road of that same name that ran to the east off Placida). That location is now a gated community.
“When Mercabo left and The Fishery closed, everybody left,” Knight said, referring to the fact that there were no more jobs once those places closed down.
The driving premise behind the acquisition of the property, according to the original proposal Charlotte County Commissioner Bill Truex made last year, is to preserve these parcels of land from major development. With each parcel’s proximity to Coral Creek and the delicate nature of the creek’s ecosystem, Truex has said it is of great importance to keep development at a minimum.
But Knight said she isn’t even against all development such as condominiums or resorts on the peninsula. Those businesses bring more jobs to the area, which could eventually lead to a return of more families living here once again.
“I don’t have an objection to growth,” she said, “and I’m glad someone is trying to preserve some of the land. I just want people to realize that Placida is not just a boat ramp. People used to live there – real, working people – and that is what is not being preserved.”
