Sunday Favorites: Fish and Grits

She was a third-generation Egmont Key native. Her paternal grandfather Charles Moore moved to Fort Brook, present-day Tampa, after the War Between the States. He was a reservationist caretaker, but spent every free moment of his time visiting Egmont.

Egmont was known for its beauty back then, and rarely would a dignitary or high-ranking military official depart Fort Brook without first visiting Egmont. The island served as an important navigational aid for Tampa Bay and was one of the first places on the West Coast of Florida to have a lighthouse. In fact, there has been a lighthouse on Egmont since Spain ruled Florida, according to Cole.

Moore fell in love with a grocer’s daughter, Emily Rayfield Armour, and the two were married. Tampa life was hard for the couple, who lost their prominent business in Tampa to a hurricane. In 1877, Moore moved his wife and six-month-old son Charlie to Egmont and assumed duties at the lighthouse..

More was also responsible for the creation of the Tampa Bay piloting business and received permission to build residences for pilots at the southern end. Emily developed a talent for making shell trinkets which were so popular, she eventually converted the formal living room into a gift shop.

Despite all their contributions, there was no way for the family to own land there, as the island was owned by the government, but the Moore family got to live in their own paradise for the next three generations.

Roberta’s father, Charlie Moore, grew into a young man on the island. He was educated on the mainland, staying with a family in Fogartyville while he attended school during the week. At the same time, he learned to build boats and later attended Rollin’s College where he became an engineer.

Charlie intended to build boats for the Fogarty brothers, who already had an established boat building business. In order to make some extra money, he took a job on Egmont and ended up staying 24 years. (He oversaw civilian operations on both Egmont and Mullet keys).

In his spare time, he build boats one of which would bring his new baby daughter – Roberta – home from Braidentown to live.

Roberta remembered her childhood as an idyllic paradise. She explored the island, ate sweet sea grapes, fresh seafood and sipped the cool water of a freshwater spring. She learned to count to 100 by counting the steps in the lighthouse as she ascended to the top but admitted she must not have been very good at counting because there are only about 96 steps.

During WWII when the rest of the country was under ration and couldn’t enjoy steaks, Roberta’s family dined on delicious sea turtle steaks – which is illegal now, but back then turtles were prevalent.

Nettie’s favorite breakfast was fried fish and grits. In the time it took her to boil the grits and get the grease hot, W.C. would go down to the engineer’s dock and catch the exact amount of fish needed, fillet them and bring them back to house.

Tune in next week and we’ll learn more about the Moore family and their life on Egmont Key.