Best of 2015: Sunday Favorites: Snook Haven

Amid an area of new development along Venice's River Road, an authentic Florida gem shines brighter than the vast array of housing suburbs popping up along the thoroughfare. Snook Haven, a restaurant and fish camp, is among the few truly genuine and timeless Florida establishments.

While I had been there and enjoyed a good meal, cold beer and relaxing break upon the Myakka River, I’d never known of the interesting history that makes the establishment even more rustic.

Horseracing, free-for-alls and card games made for some interesting nights at the restaurant, then called Pearson’s Lodge, back in the 1920s-30s. The institution was basically in the middle of nowhere, and according to Myakka resident Rick Redford, people didn’t come there unless they ”were willing to fight.“

The historic lodge housed an array of ruffians who spent their nights in the middle of the woods in order to escape city policies that, by that time, most Americans thought to be out of touch.

Fishing along the Myakka River, date unknown (State Archives of Fla./Schaeffer)

The regulars had no need for fancy racetracks according to author Bernice Brooks Bergen, in her book Sarasota Times Past. Instead, they raced their horses along the river, through the thick brush that surrounded their favorite local bar.

While it was no place for any respectable lady, Bergen writes that there were plenty of ”party girls who added spice“ to the otherwise macho BBQ’s held there on a regular basis.

Pearson’s Lodge was famous in its own right. In the early 1930's, a group of producers shot the film ”Prestige“ there. The movie, which starred Ann Harding, was set in Indo-China. The film follows Harding into to a French penal colony where she hopes to rekindle her relationship with her fiancŽ. However it takes a dramatic turn when she discovers his alcoholism.

So, basically, Snook Haven was so far in the bush and so exotic at the time that it passed for Thailand on the big screen! What’s more, Harding rented a private plane and flew herself to the location, as she was trying to earn enough hours to get her pilot’s license.

The producers didn’t have to look far to find actors to play washed up former soldiers; they just hired the locals who poignantly did a bang up job of playing drunks!

Just to make it more believable, the director hired local circus performer Eunice Coleman to play Harding’s stunt double. Coleman can be spotted in several scenes using her circus training to ride and train elephants, according to IMDb.

After prohibition was repealed and Sarasotans could drink freely in public again, people stopped visiting the rural lodge. The fish camp became obsolete, and the Florida wilds began reclaiming the land and lodge.

In 1958, retired Ohio police lieutenant Frank Corvill rescued the overgrown resort. Corvill found the wood-framed building ”charming,“ according to Bergen. The one thing he treasured most was the hide of a 12-foot alligator that was tacked above the fireplace mantle.

Corvill and his wife refurbished the building and added a fish camp, refreshment stand and 25 boat rentals, but kept the alligator hide to add character. They trucked in gasoline and fishing bait from Bradenton, but when the automobiles couldn’t make it down the road, they had to petition Sarasota County to grate the driveway.

They renamed the lodge ”Snook Haven“ as a tribute to the plentiful sport fish that congregated around the docks.

Snook Haven as it looks today (SnookHaven.com)

In 1988, a woman named Sandy Summerlin took over ownership of the fish camp. Like her predecessors, she retained the rustic atmosphere of the wood frame structures, eclectic decorations and wild surroundings. She also kept the tradition of weekly BBQ’s, although they were never as rowdy as the ones held in the 1930's.

Today you can still visit Snook Haven, enjoy a meal on the water or rent out one of four fishermen huts. There is a newly constructed deck, a campground, added menu items, lawn games and of course the 12-foot gator hide still decorates the mantle of the fireplace. After being condemned, the old lodge is undergoing renovations, but the refreshment stand and bar is lively as it ever was.