San Carlos Hotel

While on the steamship "Tarpon" traveling south from Port Tampa to Fort Myers, the Expedition party stopped for a few minutes at the San Carlos Hotel in St. James City on the south end of Pine Island. St. James City was a seasonal tourist destination, particularly for recreational fishing such as tarpon fishing. The San Carlos Hotel was three stories with 50 guest rooms. The St. James on the Gulf Company opened the hotel in 1885 and operated it until 1893. R.B. Hughes of New Jersey next operated the hotel until 1902. The hotel was purchased by Cyrus Teed, who intended to use it for his Koreshan Unity commune, but the building burned in 1905.

Credits:

• Photo, San Carlos Hotel at St. James City on Pine Island, 1895, Florida Gulf Coast University Library

Sources:

• Museum of the Islands
• "St. James City, Florida," Wikipedia.org
• "This Month in History: More on the San Carlos Hotel in St. James City," by Tim Knox, Pine Island Eagle, January 15, 2014

References in the Texts:

Links below open in a new browser window.

• March 13, Sunday

For other topics referenced in the Expedition texts, please refer to the Index to Subjects and Names.
1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition : Three Digital Texts, 2015