Red Coconut RV Park was my home for the first 14 years of my life. We were living there when Donna hit in 1960. Over the years, we would take our RVs to Red Coconut for weekend getaways even though our home was less than three miles away.
Although the gulf front property where Red Coconut is located was platted and surveyed in 1898, the trailer park was not established until the 1920s. Dr. Virgil Voorhis purchased the property for his trailer park and built a pavilion in 1932. The “Club House” was first used as a voting precinct, and later as a spiritual gathering place since there was no church on the island at that time. Later Voorhis conducted bingo games to raise money for the first one room beach school which opened in 1937.
We came to Red Coconut in 1953 with a 40-foot trailer that was placed on the front row. This was a time when many people came to the island and needed a place to stay, so they brought trailers and set up camp. Dozens of families were living full time at the park through the 50s and 60s. The park was managed by the Reasoners who also owned the Pelican Hotel (more on this in a later post).
Over the years, there were always rumors of someone purchasing the property and putting in more condos. Luckily, Tom and Fran Myers took ownership and continued to keep the park open so others could create memories there as well.
Directly across from Red Coconut was the Gulf View Shop, which was opened in 1946 by Ruth and Jeff Brame. When we were living at Red Coconut, the Gulf View was a great place to get ice cream, hot dogs, and anything else we might need. I remember every day after school, we would go to Gulf View, and sit at their lunch counter where we would drink soda and eat chips while reading comics. The Ayres owned the shop at this time, and they would let us kids sit there and read the comics for free whenever we needed something to do. Even after we moved out of the park, Gulf View was still the go to place for bathing suits and gifts.
More recently, the old Gulf View building housed a couple of restaurants, a beauty shop, and an ice cream shop. It will be missed.
