Boca Grande History

Boca Grande is located on Gasparilla Island. The first inhabitants were the Calusa Indians. Historically, the Calusa Indians were living on Useppa Island but migrated to Gasparilla around 800 B.C. Although they had no written language, Spanish settlers did write of a spoken communication. The Calusa people were a hunting and fishing tribe that lived in harmony with their environment until being overrun by the Spanish and the Seminole Indians in the 1700’s. The Calusa Indian disappeared in diseases, slavery and warfare.

After the demise of the Calusa Indians, settlers set up on Gasparilla Island to fish. In the late 1800’s there were several fishing villages. The fish were salted and shipped to Havana and other markets but eventually the fishing villages’ dies out and move to Placida across the bay. It was a much better area for mass production.

Today many of families that live in the area are descendants of the original fishing village, now known as Boca Grande.