Wine and Wood -
They make Terry Seitz happy
By Marcy Shortuse
Photos by Marcy Shortuse, submitted and from Boca Beacon archives
There are many people that come to mind when
you think of the quintessential Boca Grande
resident, and Terry Seitz is one of them. He has
called the island home since 1978 and has, since then,
shown many of us what it truly means to grab life by
the tail. Whether you’re a dendrophile, an oenophile
or a BocaGrandeophile, you’ll be fascinated by his
story.
Terry currently has several business interests that
keep him very busy, including the import of some of
the world’s finest wines and the creation of some of
the world’s finest and most unique furniture. He travels
extensively around the world, whether in search of the
perfect fish to catch, the perfect new wine or the
perfect piece of wood to use. From Italy
to Indonesia to China, Mexico to
Thailand to Egypt, Terry is a
true renaissance man.
“One never really
tires of world travel;
one of my great
pleasures is being
somewhere I have
never been before
and turning a corner
to a new street or
trail I have never seen,”
he said on one of his
websites. “One meets a
variety of people in world travels
and I can say I have learned so much from
folks around the globe about culture, production
68GASPARILLA ISLAND May/June 2018
methods and exceptional cuisines. I’ve had fried
scorpions and snake venom wine in China,
springbok carpaccio, kudu, kingklip and warthog
in South Africa and plain and garlic naan in India
to Turkish delights.”
As soon as Terry came to Gasparilla Island he
realized this was a place he could truly call
home. Having been a military brat, born at Fort
Bragg in North Carolina, living in no one place
for more than two or three years at a time, the
island was exactly where he wanted to lay
down his roots. He bought his first building in
1979 on Railroad Avenue – it’s now known as
The Inn Bakery. He renovated the building after
purchase and for a time it housed an
art gallery. In 1983 he bought
the home he currently
lives in on Damficare
Street, called Villa
Cayos, and it was
the very first
home on the
street. Through
the years he
purchased other
properties such as
the Bike ‘n’ Beach
building on Park
Avenue, the building that
now houses Boca Blooms on
4th Street, and The Island House Inn.
“I have now sold them all, except for this