A historic resort in the heart of Islamorada is under new ownership.
Bass Pro Shops, through its nature-based resorts division, announced the acquisition of Cheeca Lodge Resort & Spa on June 16. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed, although Northwood Investors was seeking as much as $300 million for the property, per an April Bloomberg report.
Cheeca Lodge features 243 rooms, a 9-hole, par-3 golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus and a 525-foot fishing pier.
In a news release, Bass Pro Shops said its founder, angler Johnny Morris, is “excited to enhance the resort while preserving its authentic character and heritage of connecting guests to the Florida Keys.”
“I have been very blessed to have spent my entire life around the great sport of fishing,” Morris said. “Growing up as far from the ocean as you can get in the Missouri Ozark Mountains, fly-fishing beautiful streams for perch and smallmouth bass. I will never forget dreaming about and then getting to catch my first tarpon on a fly. I was 16 years old fishing with my best buddy, my Dad and Capt. Sonny Eslinger on Buchanan Bank out of Bud N’ Mary’s Marina.
Wide Sportsman. BASS PRO SHOPS/Contributed
“From that special day forward, like many others, I have come to have enormous respect for the history of Islamorada, and the generations of anglers and families who have made memories here or who are blessed to call the Keys home,” Morris continued. “We’re humbled and honored to have the opportunity to help protect it and carry that story forward.”
Cheeca Lodge’s famous visitors have included Bing Crosby, Ted Williams, Jane Woodward and Presidents Harry Truman George H.W. Bush. The resort also served as home to President George H.W. Bush’s bonefish tournament for a decade. The Presidential Sailfish Tournament continues to this day.
Cheeca Lodge as many know it began in 1946, when the first hotel and restaurant opened for business on the property. Its history, however, goes back to the late 1800s, when the first homesteaders settled in Islamorada. Members of these pioneer families, the Russells, Parkers and Pinders are buried and memorialized at the cemetery. They farmed limes and pineapples, and built the Pioneer Cemetery that still stands.
The Richardson family, founders of Vick’s Chemical Company and the ones partly behind the Matecumbe Club, eventually took ownership of the property. They built a private residence on the grounds. The property was eventually sold to the Mills family, who opened the first hotel and restaurant on the island, known as Casa Islamorado.
In 1946, Clara May Downey from Olney, Maryland purchased the property and renamed it Islamorada Olney Inn. The 22-bungalow Olney Inn was destroyed by a hurricane, leading the property to change hands to Cynthia Twitchell, heir to the A&P Grocery fortune. She built the main lobby, oceanfront villas, tennis courts, a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus and the world famous fishing pier.
Twitchell combined her nickname, Chee, and her husband’s name, Carl, to create the moniker Cheeca. The Twitchell’s then relinquished ownership to Carl Navarre, a Coca Cola executive, in 1976.
Cheeca Lodge welcomed famous guests who appeared on Curt Gowdy’s outdoor show “The American Sportsman,” which took place in Islamorada and ran from the 1960s to the ’80s. Islamorada’s reputation as the “Sportfishing Capital of the World” is often attributed to Gowdy.
Originally founded in 1967 by legendary anglers George Hommell Jr. and Billy Pate, World Wide Sportsman quickly became one of the most premier saltwater specialist shops in the world. Widely regarded as a pioneer of flats fishing and conservation in the Florida Keys, Hommell helped shape Islamorada into “The Sportfishing Capital of the World.” George and Billy aligned with Morris and Bass Pro Shops almost 30 years ago, creating a legacy that continues to inspire anglers and outdoor enthusiasts today.
