Wind Across the Everglades and the Little Canoe

This story begins back in the 1950s when as a teenager I would visit my Uncle Roy Atkins and Aunt Helen in Everglades City. Uncle Roy was the Sheriff of Collier County and Aunt Helen was a Lady Deputy Sheriff. 

They didn’t have any children, so I became the son they never had. They lived just across the street from the jail and the Rod and Gun Club. They also owned the Ochopee Trading Post. I would work the counter selling 12-inch hot dogs and Cokes to the tourist on the Trail. I met Burl Ives, Tonny Gelianto, and other folks from the movie crew while they were filming the movie. They liked to go to Miami on their days off. They would stop in at the Trading Post for an “adult beverage.” This is where I got the “Little Canoe.” 

The filming of the movie was completed, and Uncle Roy told me that there was going to be a big party at the Rod and Gun Club to celebrate the completion. He said it would be something to remember, and it certainly was. He told me to sit on the last bar stool in the lounge and to ask the folks to autograph my canoe. There was a lot of “adult beverages” served. I really didn’t know the stars or crew, I was just “Sheriff Roy Atkins boy," so I guess that was why I was allowed to be in the lounge. I took my picture sitting on the same stool when I visited the Rod and Gun many years later. 

Isn’t it great to be able to relive history! This is why we are helping to preserve the Everglades Bank, which is across the street from the historic Rod and Gun Club. 

Author Note  

This story and the Little Canoe are donated to the Everglades Society for Historic Preservation to use forever in any manner they wish.