Blog

Tarpon Lodge was first built in 1926 by a couple who loved the water. In the 1940s it became a fishing lodge. Several owners operated the property over the years, and in the late 1990s it again came up for sale.

The Wells family, who also own the inn and restaurant at nearby Cabbage Key, saw the value in the historic space.

“There’s a rich history to Tarpon Lodge,” Wells said. “My dad kept looking at this property, and he had a great vision for it. He’s an avid fishing guy, and what he wanted was to bring back a throwback fishing lodge, like it was historically.”

The Tarpon Lodge still has its original 1926 flooring and fireplace.

The family purchased the property in 1999 and took the next year to perform updates and renovations.

“The bones were there,” Wells said.

“That’s the real key part of it. The house had all the character in the world, it just needed a little pick-me-up. That’s what we spent the better part of a year doing, and I was really pleased with the way that it came out.”

A sunset view from the outdoor patio at Tarpon Lodge on Pine Island.

Today the lodge’s restaurant is open to the public for lunch and dinner, offering a range of continental cuisine with a focus on fresh seafood, much of it caught locally.

“Obviously, when you’re coastal it’s important to have a really nice offering of seafood items,” Wells said.

“We also know that not every customer is a seafood eater, so we have land items. And we keep in mind with our specials the growing number of vegan customers.”

The restaurant strives to serve what Wells calls an “upscale and elegant” menu but without too many pretensions. Tarpon Lodge still considers itself island-casual.

“It’s still Florida,” Wells said. “We’re not asking our customers who have been fishing all day to show up in a blazer.”

The elegance, he said, comes more from the menu and the setting than the dress code.

A sunset view from the outdoor patio at Tarpon Lodge on Pine Island.

“It’s just a different type of offering than you see at other places. We don’t fry anything.”

Though Tarpon Lodge sits at the northwest corner of Pine Island, it attracts diners from across Lee and Collier Counties. Many will spend the day browsing the quirky shops and art galleries of nearby Matlacha before driving to Tarpon Lodge for lunch or dinner. Some come by boat from neighboring Useppa Island or Boca Grande. And still others will make the drive just for a chance to catch the famous sunsets over the barrier islands.

“Sometimes we’ll have people order their dinner, and when it comes time to serve them we wonder where they are,” Wells said. “Turns out, they’ve all gotten up to take pictures of the sunset.”

And that genteel image that Tarpon Lodge evokes? It’s spot-on.

“This is the kind of place where you can have a bottle of wine at your table for lunch, and if you’re lucky enough to have a nice breeze that day the lawn is a really beautiful place to just sit and relax.”

Just as true today as it was for visitors to the lodge in the past.

This article by Artis Henderson, originally appeared on News-Press, Part of the USA Today Network