"The 'Fishingest' Hotel"
Gulf Coast Business Review
(Click Here to view .pdf copy of the review)

"fish right outside your door at Bridgewater Inn"
Southern Living Magazine

"a way cool building built directly on a pier...dolphins and manatee swim by regularly"
FLORIDA, Lonely Planet Travel

"...stayed one night longer than planned...there were dolphins around...we loved the style here...we had a relaxed time...we just love this place"
Wally and Susanne, Aschaffenburg, Germany

"What a magical place! The dolphins in our "frontyard" were a special treat. thank you"
E and A, Watertown, Massachusetts

The Inn is perhaps the areas’ best location for relaxed dolphin watching. Manatee swim next to the inn and cottage. Abundant bird life often put on a memorable show.

Fish from the decks and docks outside your room (poles avaialble). Charter captains can pick you up at the Inn for flats style fishing for snook and redfish.Tarpon trips and Gulf or Mexico fishing are available, too.

"the most natural and unspoilt part of Florida we have found.Beautiful. Please stay this way." Rachel and Toby, UK

Local excursion boats run to the outer islands like Cayo Costa, an unspoiled barrier island now preserved as a State Park.
Personalized sightseeing and eco-tours can be arranged.
Kayaks , canoes, motorboats and pontoons are all avaialble nearby.

"caught snook, jack, pufferfish, flying fish, redfish, brim, lizardfish, drum, catfish, dogfish, bass, blue crab, trout, stingray, snapper, sheepshead, stone crab. 17 species. We had fun! Myron and Eric, Colorado

"Great, clean place. Very congenial, friendly owners and staff. Will be back"
M.E. Inverness, FL

"Mornings are especially peaceful at Bridgewater with pelicans perching on pylons nearby occasionally diving in the glassy bay for breakfast"
Southern Living Magazine

"We had our own private theater of the sea - and it was just 10 steps from our bed... I knew this was the perfect alternative to our customary frenzied vacations. Instead of a drab hotel corridor, we stepped out to our own fishing hole. And as the brochure promised, we slumbered "inn" the water - the nine-room motel is built on a pier"
Palm Beach Post

"A bit of local history, great Florida seafood, a haven for artists and phenomenal fishing: that is Matlacha (pronounced MAT - LA - SHAY)"
Florida Sportsman Magazine

The Bridgewater Inn is a landmark and an attraction in Matlacha.   The Inn was built in the same style as the “stilt fish houses” that are slowly vanishing from the waters around Pine Island.   The Inn and these structures are from a bygone era when people got away with most anything  – including building right in the water!   The few remaining stilt fish houses are remnants of Old Florida but seem to be vanishing too quickly.

Around the year 1900 fisherman and the Punta Gorda Fish Company built a number of these structures in the waters around Pine Island.  Some housed the fisherman and families.  Some were for storing the days catch of fish and were stocked with ice.     To improve the holdover time the walls were filled with homemade insulation – sand and shells!    Only a few of these unique structures have survived and most all are in private hands.  They can be seen from a distance on daytrips by boat.   Electricity is by solar electric panels or generators and some still collect rainwater in cisterns.

Well-known cartoonist Ding Darling, who helped establish the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge stretching from Sanibel up into Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve (where the Inn sits) had a stilt house built in the water just offshore from his home on Captiva.   Story goes that the dock connecting the stilt house to the shore had a movable span designed like a drawbridge.   When he needed some privacy he would cross the dock and raise the span signaling all to leave him alone in his over-the-water house.

In 1925 a rough road was built to link the Florida mainland with Pine Island by connecting the islands of Matlacha.   Eager for a break in life, squatters came first by boat and then by the new road to stake out a piece of shoreline or a spot in the water.   It was the start of the Great Depression and some lived in tents, cars and even a bread truck.   The fishing was legendary so at least they had fish to eat.   These settlers built docks, shanties and stilt fish houses along what is now Pine Island Road.   Eventually this earned them homestead rights.   To get a feeling for this bit of Americana see the Elvis Presley movie “Follow That Dream”  or read the novel (the movie is based on) Pioneer Go Home by Ft. Myers author Richard Powell.

In Matlacha there used to be a two-story stilt fish house in the water behind the Seven Seas Bait Shop.   The tender lived upstairs with his family and the fish were stored downstairs.   While combing the neighboring shoreline we’ve found a few artifacts in the water like old rum bottles and broken dishes from bygone eras.  Who knows what all went on in that two story fish house?  There was even a church built up on pilings across the street, but it was moved out of the village after some disagreements boiled over.  There are still about 20 stilt buildings in the water east of the bridge in Matlacha lending a special charm to the village.    The Bridgewater Inn is the areas’ only public accommodation built over the water.

In 1995 there was still a few squatters around, like Ernie.   I never saw Ernie wear shoes.   He always said hello to my son, Shawn, on his way to the park to play ball.   Ernie had a place out on a mangrove island that you can see from the Inn.   Rumor had it the State wouldn’t give him homestead rights because he didn’t “improve” the property enough – no water well, no electricity – but Ernie didn’t need these things to get by.   Ernie passed away a few years ago and his way of life went with him.

Earliest memories of the Inn date back to 1960’s when it was rumored to be known simply as “the hotel”.  Story goes that a preacher built a dock and then rented a few boats, sometimes just for a trade of fresh fish.   If by some miracle, the Good Lord provided him some building materials the dock would grow a little more, then a basic building sprouted (on a weekend, we are told).  Eventually the Inn became a stilt house over water.  

How and when it became “the hotel” is shrouded in mystery.   Ivonne Roach told us she remembers it was just known as "the hotel" in the early '60's. We have heard a lot of stories about the Inn and the characters that have stayed here.   One of my favorites tells about the snowbird that rented a room for the season.  When he moved out the owner found that this “guest” had cut a trap door in the middle of the floor where he could fish for Snook.   Well, there are some mighty big Snook around and you can catch them from the deck…but the trap door is long gone.   A loco fishing legend tells us the state record Snook is going be caught around the Inn.   So some history is still to be recorded……..

We’re enjoying a real life at the Bridgewater Inn.   We welcome you to come and experience our Florida - the way it used to be, from over the tides in Matlacha.

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