The building currently occupied by the Marsh Landing Restaurant in Fellsmere was constructed in 1926 by the Fellsmere Estates Corp., and went on to become headquarters for the Florida Crystal Sugar Co. Peli thought, if only the walls could talk.
The Marsh Landing Restaurant building has elegance unmatched by modern construction. The wood windows and door frames are original cypress frames made from trees that were logged locally and cut in nearby lumber camps. The wainscot around the interior walls is the original tongue and groove ceiling, and most of the doors are original. The building was restored back to these early days, by keeping the pay window located on the Southern side, where employees use to collect their paychecks, and also shifting the space back to the original blueprint.
Subsequently the building was used for municipal purposes, when City Council meetings were held in the large interior room and the police department occupied the North end of the building where the kitchen and office are now located. The concrete vault previously in that area was originally built to hold important documents for the corporation but while it was the police department, it reportedly held prisoners awaiting morning transportation to jail.
The restaurant owners strive to bring you back in time to enjoy the early Florida simpler times when folks lived off the land, hand-made dishes and fine cuisine from scratch, and enjoyed good times all together.
Peli enjoyed learning the history and was also excited to learn that eleven years before the building (Marsh Landing restaurant, currently) was built, in 1915, Fellsmere became the first town south of the Mason-Dixon line to grant women the right to vote. Mrs. Zena M Dreier was the first woman to cast a vote in the town, five years before the passage of the 19thAmendment. A great reminder that voting is a privilege and a duty of good citizens. It’s time to register to vote!
Peli enjoys playing with a cartoon alligator in front of Marsh Landing Restaurant but she wants to remind everyone that alligators are actually wild and unpredictable and can cause great harm or even death. This does not mean we should hate alligators. They were, of course, living in Florida for millions of years before people got here so we should respect them and leave them undisturbed while in their native habitat.
The Adventures of Peli the Pelican 