It's Still Old Florida, but...

"I’m a little saddened by the way Everglades City is building," she says. "Many generations of young people here will never be able to afford to live here, and their grandparents had to leave because they couldn’t afford the taxes. People who own businesses can live here, but the rest of the people live in Copeland, where it’s not as expensive."

Surviving the Slump
Although the effects of the housing slump have rippled toward Everglades City, in some cases a weakened economy appears to mean little here.

"Business has been great, better than in recent years, maybe better than ever," says Richard Wahrenberger, owner of City Seafood Café and Market, where stone crab claws come off the boat, go into the pot, and arrive cooked and cracked at tables that overlook the whole scene. The first month of this stone crab season, from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15, "was the best I ever had in 23 years," Wahrenberger reports.

At the Ivey House, the Harradens report that rooms are normally booked in advance, as are the eco-tours they lead into the back country with canoe and kayak.

"Our prices are slowly going up, but it’s nothing like Naples, and we have a lot of repeat business," says Sandy Harraden.

On the flip side, captain Tony Brock, who for 40 years has run American Heritage Outdoor Adventures fishing charters, tells a different economic tale. "I’d say business is down in the last two or three years, and it’s worse this year," he says.

Sheer cost and the reluctance of consumers to spend extravagantly on pleasures in the current economic climate might be part of the reason. At City Café, for example, the highest costs for patrons include medium stone crab claws, at about $13 to $20 a pound. But a full-day, guided trip with Brock runs $550 for two, which fits the definition of extravagance for some.

For others, whether the economy is taking on water has little bearing on spending, suggests Bob Wells, owner of Bob Wells Real Estate. He tells of a man recently who wanted a property and decided to buy it on the spot. He cut a check for $2.2 million.

"We’re looking for 61 of those at Everglades Isles," says Wells. He’s referring to a new, class-A, motor-coach resort community with ample services and clubhouse, where 61 lots with docks and memberships range from $300,000 to $680,000. Wells expects them to go on the market by April.

His two sons, Zach, 29, and Rob, 37, are both commercial crab fishermen, an industry that still holds firm in Everglades City, in spite of fisheries restrictions and the cost of crab bait and fuel, which has become almost prohibitive, Wells says. Trucking in fish heads or pigs’ feet runs 30 cents to 50 cents a pound, up from 18 cents just a few years ago.

Here, $695,000 will buy you a house and dock on the Barron River, built by Barron Collier’s company in the 1920s and ready for restoration. For $99,000 you can get the smallest RV lot with a dock, storage space and water in Fisherman’s Cove. "So if I’m living in Naples or Miami and I want to fish over here, for $99,000 I can have a dock, a parking place and a storage area. I could actually drive in there, hook up my van or RV, and then spend the weekend fishing," says Wells.

Waterfront lots in RV parks can list for less than $100,000. Condominiums are available in developments such as Partners Cove and The Estuary, some defiantly under construction in spite of the housing market, and waterfront homes along or near Riverside Drive, for example, range from about $300,000 to millions of dollars.

Allen Farrow and Mardi Kjartansson did better than that. They arrived from Asheville, N.C., to buy into a co-op near the center of town on "Ferrsia Street," as the sign says, for about $70,000, they say. Retired—he worked in the fly-fishing industry in New Hampshire and Vermont—they walk their dogs, kayak and bicycle each day, and he fishes.

"It’s like Old Florida, and it’s still not crowded," he says.

"They misspelled the name on the street sign; it’s supposed to be for the flower, freesia, but no one cares," she notes.