Looking Back

  • Cottages At 'Tween Waters

    This image is the main cottage at 'Tween Waters in the 1930s. Grace price and her husband F. Bowman Price built the first cottage at 'Tween Waters Inn in 1931. They came to the island with their infant daughter Dorothy because of Bowman's poor health.

  • McCaul's Gift Shop

    The original building which eventually housed McCaul's gift shop was reportedly built by Reimund “Black Bart” Holzhey and then sold to islander Ina Watson. A postcard image of the gift shop from 1973 shows the exterior of the building at ground-level. The building was eventually elevated with its distinctive long ramp and became know as the Tree House Gift Shop. The building is still standing as of June 2020 and is located just west of the Captiva post office on the left side of the road leading to Alison Hagerup beach park.

  • Tropical Storm Bob-July 1985

    Photo of the Mucky Duck parking lot at the height of Tropical Storm Bob in July of 1985. Bob hit the southwest Florida Gulf coast as a tropical storm before turning north and intensifying as a Category 1 Hurricane.

  • Old & New Blind Pass Bridges 1955

    This image feature the new replacing the old. The old wooden Blind Pass bridge between Sanibel and Captiva is quite a contrast with the new concrete bridge. In this photo from 1955 the new bridge is completed with exception for the approaches which will be pumped in by Gene Sander of Sander Yard. 

  • Teddy Roosevelt At Snyder School

    In this photograph, circa early 1900's, President Theodore Roosevelt (fourth from left) on a visit to the Snyder School during his fishing expedition to Captiva for devil fish.

  • "Black Bart" Holzhey Cottage

    Cottage originally built by the notorious, Captiva loner "Black Bart" Holzhey in the 40's. In the photo it is Mary Cunningham's Island Gift Shop, situated where Chadwick Square is now, and where it remained until reportedly moved to the north-east corner of Wiles and Captiva Drive. 

Bridging the Past and the Present