there, and there was even a two-room schoolhouse
there that the Lowe boys attended. The passenger
train stopped in Gasparilla Village in the morning and
in the afternoon, so one could hop on the train to
town in the morning, then ride it back later in the day.
Gus Cole had a general store in the village, and for
$5 a week a family could get all the groceries they
needed. In a time when 100 pounds of mullet would
get a fisherman $1, every penny spent was carefully
watched.
Things were good in Gasparilla until the 1930s,
which was when Walter Gault moved his wholesale
fish business over to Placida. From that time forward
the families who inhabited Gasparilla started
moving over to the mainland. In 1945 another
huge change came when Sunset Realty
Corporation purchased the land north of the
Lee/Charlotte county line.
Eviction came swiftly for the 50 or so people
still living in Gasparilla. Only one house was
spared and moved to Tarpon Street, it was Gus
Cole’s old house and Sam Whidden later lived
there as well. The rest of the homes and other
buildings were demolished, and with that an era
ended.
SUNSET REALTY DAYS
For years after Sunset purchased the land it
primarily was left alone. A few building projects had
taken place in the 1960s, and plats for Gulf Shores
North and an adjacent marina were permitted in
1973. The Boca Grande Club was built in 1978, but
in the 1980s development on the north end really
started taking off.
In late 1981 Sunset Realty was interested in
developing the north end of the Gulf side of the
island north of Sea Oats to Cole Island at 10 units
per acre, and were looking for variance approval to
do so as the land was restricted to five units per acre
at that time. The Boca Grande Club had the right to
exercise first refusal on the land, though, and at that
time they were expected to exercise that right prior
to the deal’s expiration in 1983. In the end, they
passed on the deal, but 20 acres of the property was
acquired by Sea Oats, a gated community on Gulf
Shores Drive.
In January of 1982 Sunset Realty’s request to
develop the 30 units east of Gasparilla Road on the
north end was denied by Charlotte County
Commissioners, who held firm that only seven units
would be allowed under the environmentally
sensitive zoning laws which had recently gone into
effect.
In February of 1982 Gasparilla Island Conservation
and Improvement Association board members voted
to continue negotiations with Sunset Realty
Corporation concerning the company’s final plans for
development on the north end. In late 1981 Sunset
Realty Corporation had offered to give Three Sisters
Island and certain other environmentally sensitive
wetlands, uplands and submerged lands to the
GICIA for preservation in exchange for support
and aid in obtaining pending zoning, plan and plat
approvals.
The GICIA members, including their attorney
Guy Batsel realized the importance of Three
Sisters as far as preservation was concerned, and
that the group had spent a generous sum of
money fighting Sunset’s attempts to get dredge
and fill permits to build a causeway to the small
island.
In addition to Three Sisters, Sunset was offering
up undeveloped land east of the railroad track
and north of 20th Street (except for a small
piece of land there), and approximately 1,250
acres of submerged land excepting Hogan’s Key
and a 50-foot wide submerged strip of land
abutting Hogan’s Key.
In exchange for this land, Sunset was looking
for the aid and support of the GICIA to zone,
plat and plan approvals for 60 single-family lots
(and 60 boat lots). Sunset also wanted the GICIA
to withdraw “all written and verbal objections to
applications filed with the Army Corps of
Engineers and the Department of Environmental
Regulation for permits to dredge a channel, 50
feet wide and six feet deep, around the
perimeter of Hole-in-the-Wall Bay, just south of
Boca Grande Isles and across from the Inn Golf
Course.”
Sunset was also seeking support from the