Why Whidden’s matters: The landscape of Florida’s seaside

A notable place is not just a physical building. It is a building connected to a community and a group of people.

Whidden’s Marina is a rare location, as most of the other institutions like it across the nation’s waterfronts have been demolished or turned into condos or residences. It is, of course, officially recognized as such, as it is one of the rare marina complexes in the nation that is on the National Register of Historic Places and listed individually. It is also a component of the Boca Grande Historic District, protected by Lee County.

Back in 1989, sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term Third Place and wrote a book on the subject. His idea was totally obvious: neutral places like coffee shops, cafes, libraries, bars, taverns and hair salons were “third places” that were important to community. The first place was your house; the second place was your work. The third place was essential as well, as it provided what he called “societal glue” that built community. A third place did not require appointments to visit and brought the community together. The challenge was that there were fewer and fewer of these places.

What is unique about Whidden’s is that it is both a community asset and an important part of national history. The nomination form gives its reason for the historic listing as “Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.” Technically, 1926 is not the founding date for the first building at the marina. It was around 1920, but it was in 1926 that it became Whidden’s, hence this celebratory special section.

The role of these unique places of “social interaction” is important to how much a community values itself economically, according to Katherine Loflin, a historian and thinker on urban development.

Loflin, an urban consultant from North Carolina with the firm City Doctor, formerly worked for the Knight Miami Foundation’s Engage Miami Project and Johnson C. Smith University’s Soul of Charlotte’s Northwest Corridor Project, among many other projects in what is called “placemaking.”

Her thesis is about money.

“The more people love where they live, the higher the local economic growth of that place,” said Loflin in a 2012 TedX talk. When she worked for the Knight Foundation, she was allowed to study what makes people love where they live. They figured out that it was the softer side of a place, and how good people felt about the place they lived. The key factor was that when people felt that way, the places seemed to do better economically.

She has never been to Whidden’s, but immediately knew its importance when asked about places.

In Florida, it is the land, water and the sea and the things around it that give us a sense of place. “There is such a need for somebody to keep holding on to that old Florida look,” Loflin said. “The marinas are the last line of defense in many cases.”

We should be optimistic it survives and cherish it. “The waterfront seems to be the one place where Floridians have a little more tolerance for holding on,” she said.

She moved back from Miami to her native North Carolina, and it has the same sort of scenes that make people appreciate where they live.

“There is nothing like going out to barrier islands like we have and being out to look at water and the marina, and say that this is the same view that people have had for centuries,” Loflin said. “The topography really allows you to go back in time. It’s a very immersive experience.”

In the old days, making a place was up to the idiosyncratic individuals who lived there and worked there, uninterrupted by outside rules, materials and ideas. 

“We have to fight and hold onto those things,” Loflin said. Nothing makes people get energized about an area like when they have a place, and know the stories, even through walking tours and museums, she said. “It just makes people fall right in love,” Loflin said. “It is completely mobilizing to places to understand that.”