Save the cottages

R

alph and Claire Hunter are cheering.

The late founders, owners and publishers of the Longboat Observer were devoted supporters, stewards and keepers of Longboat Key history. 

Toward the end and after their ownership of the newspaper, Ralph Hunter served as president of the Longboat Key Historical Society. He and Claire kept volumes of Longboat history, photographs and historical keepsakes in their home and garage. 

One of their dreams was to have a permanent place to keep and display Longboat history. 

That day is within reach.

The society’s new president, Michael Drake, former president of the Longbeach Village Association and a longtime Longboat Key resident, envisions and is campaigning for a perfect, permanent home for the historical society. He just needs a little seed money to make it happen.

Drake persuaded Longboat Key developer Jim Clabaugh, the buyer of the Longboat Key Center for the Arts property in the Village, to donate two historic Whitney Beach cottages on the art center property to the historical society. The catch: Drake must move them to a new location.

To his credit, Drake has identified the perfect location — almost a half-acre at 521 Broadway. It’s the vacant lot across the street from the shuttered service station and next to the Century 21 real estate office at the corner of Broadway and Gulf of Mexico Drive. 

It’s the perfect site for at least two reasons: It’s at the northern gateway to Longboat Key, an appropriate place to welcome curious visitors; and it’s at the gateway to Longboat Key’s historic Longbeach Village, one of the first settlements on the Key.

Drake told us he has spoken with the owner of the site, Greg Ciccolo, another longtime Longboat family and property owner. And he says Ciccolo likes the idea — more so than developing a big home on stilts. We were unable to reach Ciccolo for comment.

As reported in the Longboat Observer last week, Drake is trying to raise $45,000 initially to move the two Whitney cottages. 

Are they worth preserving? 

That’s always a tough question. It’s one thing to move the cottages to the site. It’s another to maintain them in perpetuity, especially given they are wooden structures, highly susceptible to Mother Nature’s elements. 

You can already envision the future costs. And given the historical society’s history of being unable to sustain itself, you may need some convincing that Drake’s efforts and vision will carry on. You know the story: Every project needs a passionate champion — and others to carry on the legacy.

Longboat Key taxpayers could help sustain the legacy — if they felt it worthy. The Town Commission could do for the historical society what it did for the Longboat Key Public Tennis Center and what it’s doing to develop a new arts and education center near Publix. In both cases, the Town Commission tapped funding from the town’s land-acquisition fund to acquire the property. The money in that fund can be used only for parks, so in both cases the Town Commission designated and is designating the properties as town parks. 

Commissioners could take a similar step for the historical society site.

Afterward, the cottages could remain the responsibility of the non-profit historical society, or the town could make them part of the town’s park system and funded by taxpayers.

Our preference would be the not-for-profit model. Indeed, for 65 years, the Longboat Key Center for the Arts lived, often a struggle, but it survived. And in that time, it had many champions who kept it going. 

Surely, there are those on Longboat Key who recognize the importance of preserving important reminders of Longboat’s roots and past. As a chronicler of Longboat Key history, this newspaper is one of those. And as such, we have made a commitment to Drake to seed his $45,000 moving efforts.

Time is short for Drake. The developer of the former center for the arts property is eager to begin his residential development and wants the cottages moved. 

At this point, Drake — nor anyone, for that matter — doesn’t know whether the cottages will withstand the move or time. But making the small investment to buy time and move them would be better than living with the regret of not trying at all and watching two pieces of Longboat’s history turn to rubble and dust.

If you can, send a contribution to the historical society to preserve the Whitney cottages. Ralph and Claire Hunter would smile from above.