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Did you know? |
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The illustrious stays and visits, from past to present, include none other than those made by Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Hoover, and Nixon - Actors John Wayne, Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Sean Connery, Danny Glover, and Joe Pesci - Novelist Ernest Hemingway - and even the English Rock musician of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger. |
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P.O. Box 190
Everglades City, FL 34139
Phone: 239.695.2101
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The Atmosphere |
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The atmosphere of the club still exudes from the dark brown wood, the pecky cypress dining room, the mounted grouper and tarpon trophies, the deer and 'gator skins, the pillared front porch, and the casually appointed registration desk. There is wicker furniture along a grand old screened porch which is ideal for watching the pelicans perched on the pilings and for checking on the river traffic.
Off to the side there is a swimming pool. At dockside, charter captains and guides pick up guests for a day of fishing the flats and backwaters of the glades. Skiffs and canoes can also be rented here.
The Rod and Gun Club is tucked into a waterfront corner of a town that time has not disturbed much since the grand ole schemes of Barron Collier. A brief flurry of port World War II revitalization was brought to a breezy halt with Hurricane Donna in 1960; the dreams of still another Florida developer now echo hauntingly around the oversized buildings, far too grandiose for a swamp hamlet with barely six hundred residents. But once a year for two days during the first week in February that figure explodes to some ten thousand as the city holds its annual Seafood Festival. Tons of mullet, shrimp, hush puppies, corn on the cob, baked beans, and beer are dispensed to the flocks Collier once hoped would settle here. There are also stone crab claws, that special Florida delicacy taken from the hundreds of traps in nearby waters. It's also a specialty of the Rod and Gun Club dining room.
 The Club will also prepare whatever you bring in after a day with rod and reel, serving it to you with style in the dining room just off the lobby. Guests are lodged in the cottages scattered under the trees, rustic and comfortable hideaways with simple furnishings. It is pleasant to return here after a day of boating, driving, or exploring the western gateway of the Everglades: the Ten Thousand Islands, a sea of grass sprinkled with hammocks - a place of special interest for naturalist and nature lovers. At the Everglades City Park Visitor Center there is information on various programs, hiking and driving trips, canoes and bicycles for rent, and a two hour boat ride into the glades and the islands.
The Rod and Gun Club will arrange a box lunch for your expeditions. |
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