Still At It

I appreciate all the phone calls and emails about the historical house theme we have going here. This is a resource not just to my credit but for a whole bunch of people, most of whom know a bazillion times more local history than I. I am still having some difficulty getting around the "downtown" area because not only is the median being redone; the side street drainage is also. But I did manage to find four beauties today.

The Sears house called the 'Seventh Day' was built in 1973 and is still popular as a Gulfside beach house, being very well maintained.

Steve Hathcock referred this house to me as possibly as real old timer on Sunny Isle St. He wasn't sure of the exact history and the owners weren't exactly sure if they wanted me to shoot a picture of their house. I do see some similarities with the old Coast Guard House.

Above, the Palmetto Inn is included, along with its curved front aspect, which is highly unusual anywhere. The sign says "since 1945" but according to local knowledge, that is when the family first started their restaurant business. The present building was built in the mid to late 1950's, still impressive. It is a true cultural landmark.

Here is the last "surfer" trailer left on the Island, due to squatter's right's one would suppose. From an aerial view you can see how a bubble-top 1950's travel trailer was joined up to other partitions. This is the last stand for a mobile trailer park of about six permanent trailers.

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Is my job done yet? Absolutly not. There are more cool houses of historical interest locked away in places all over the Island. I need to verify the location of John L. Tompkins office, for example, and shoot one or two bayside boat houses which have those funky Tiki roof-lines. One Island friend has volunteered to help find old telephone books from the 1950's through 1970's so as to see if the old house is still there, an interesting concept.

swells22@swbell.net