Poet Robert Frost used the line “good fences make good neighbors” in his 1914 poem “Mending Fences.” While he was not the first to speak to the idea, it was certainly not the case with No Name Key’s Carlton Craig and Mosby Matcovich.
For a little backstory, the first version of the Overseas Highway was officially called State Road 4A. Significantly different than it appears today, the road had a 40-mile gap requiring passage aboard an automobile ferry. Two ferry terminals, one at Lower Matecumbe Key and one at No Name Key, were operable when the road opened to traffic in 1927. The ferries remained in use until the new and improved Overseas Highway opened in 1938 eliminated the need for the ferry system. The No Name Key ferry landing was subsequently abandoned.
During the road’s construction, a work camp was established next to the ferry landing. Carlton Craig bought the property circa 1933, expanded it and developed the No Name Key Fishing Lodge. Craig had a brother named Roland, who also moved to the Keys and developed his own fisherman’s paradise. His property was on a stretch of railroad fill between Lower Matecumbe and Fiesta Keys, now known as Craig Key.
Unlike Roland, Carlton Craig had a difficult neighbor named Mosby Matcovich whose father, Nicholas Matcovich, was once known as the Hermit of No Name Key. Nicholas farmed his homestead until he passed in 1919. Mosby, born circa 1872, moved to the family homestead and, like his father, worked as a farmer. The border between the properties of Craig and Matcovich was State Road 4A as it led to the ferry terminal.
According to a story in The Key West Citizen dated Feb. 25, 1936, Mosby Matcovich appeared before Justice of the Peace Rogelio Gomez over complaints levied by Carlton Craig. He alleged that Matcovich interfered with his work at the No Name Fishing Lodge and made threats against him. Matcovich was ordered to “deposit a peace bond of $200 or spend 10 days in county jail.” Failing to pay the bond, he was placed in custody and taken to the county jail.
It was not his last time in court. The Key West Citizen reported that Mosby Matcovich was again in front of a judge in the June 21, 1938, edition of the paper. This time, it was more serious. Matcovich stood before County Judge Raymond R. Lord for an incident with Captain Jimmie Saunders, who charted fishing trips from Craig’s fish camp. On the evening of June 16, it was alleged that Saunders trespassed onto Matcovich’s property and threatened him with bodily harm.
According to Matcovich, feeling threatened, he leveled a single-barrel shotgun at Saunders and shot him in self-defense. The victim was brought to Key West and delivered to the Marine Hospital by the Lopez Funeral Home ambulance. Dr. Ralph Braund operated on Saunders and removed the slug that broke his pelvis. On June 17, 1938, The Key West Citizen reported that Saunders was “evidently not shot by buckshot for when the trousers were removed from Saunders there was only one hole in his trousers indicating where the charge entered. The wound is just above the buttocks.”
The “badly mashed” slug was not buckshot from a shotgun but from a .32 caliber revolver. Not only had Matcovich not used a shotgun, but also shot Saunders when his back was turned. Charged with attempted murder, Matcovich was initially sentenced to five years in the state prison, but his sentence was later reduced to one year in county jail and a $500 fine. If he could not pay the fine, Judge William Albury said he would tack on one more year to his sentence.
Life on No Name Key continued to be uncomfortable between the two neighbors. According to a story in the June 10, 1943, edition of The Miami Herald, the abandoned roadway and ferry terminal were being used in unauthorized ways. A Miami shark fishing operation had been using the docks at the ferry landing. Craig erected both a chicken coup and a chicken run or pen on the old road bordering his No Name Key Fishing Lodge. Matcovich erected fence polls. County Attorney Julius Stone ordered the obstructions be removed within 30 days. Matcovich told county commissioners he had only constructed the fence to keep Craig off his property.
Craig sold off parcels of his No Name Key property from 1945-1947. In April 1945, Vilma Walden purchased 95 feet of waterfront property for $1,500. In May 1945, John D. Dillon bought a 123-by-1,320 foot tract for $1,200. In February 1946, a 220-by-1,320 foot waterfront lot was sold to Thomas R. Mullen, Jr., Richard Leslie Mullen and Ruth E. Mullen for $1,300. In September 1947, Mr. and Mrs. Lyman purchased Craig’s No Name Key Fishing Lodge for $12,000.
After selling his No Name Key properties, Craig moved to Miami. He passed away in 1975. Mosby Matcovich’s No Name Key property appeared for sale over several years. In 1947, 20 acres of the Matcovich homestead advertised as being “at the old Ferry landing” was listed for sale in The Key West Citizen for $6,000. On Feb. 15, 1950, there was a newspaper advertising “property at old Ferry landing, southside shore and road frontage, deep water and use of 1,000-foot pier – Mosby Matcovich, Key West.” No price was listed.