The Brooksville Journal

Old Landmark
Burns Sunday
Hotel Bay Port Is Razed By Fire
About Ten
O'Clock Last
Sabbath Morn.

Old-timers in Brooksville and Hernando county, as well as many persons from all parts of the state, will regret exceedingly to learn that the old hotel at Bay Port is no more. Flames starting presumably from sparks from a fire in the fireplace, last Sunday morning, was the cause.

The building was 101 years old and was built in 1842 by Major Parsons, according to reports. For many years the Parsons occupied the building, and later was run as a hotel by Mrs. Fannie Goethe, who died many years ago. At the time of the fire, it was occupied by Obie Boulware, but owned by S. Whitehurst Sons of this city. It was covered by insurance.

To give a more vivid picture of the old building, we copy herewith an editorial appearing in The Journal of June 18, 1942: as follows:

THE BAYPORT HOTEL
It's just an old, dilapidated structure, weathered, sagging with age. A person seeing it for the first time would probably wonder how anyone could see anything at all in the old structure but a ramshackled old building, that will eventually crumble and fall to earth. But ask anyone in Brooksville and Hernando county about the Bayport hotel, especially those who have lived in this county.
They will tell you something of its colorful history -and colorful it has been.

We suppose our reason for writing this is purely sentimental, but we wanted to call to the attention of our readers that the Bayport hotel is one hundred years old this year. Built some time in 1842, we don't recall the exact date, maybe some oldtimers will, it has faced the world exactly one hundred years, and is still standing. In its day it has seen the struggle of men against the sea, the struggle of men for survival in this chaotic world. It has seen wars come and go. It still bears the scar left by a cannon ball that struck it during the fighting off Bayport during the Civil War. Now it has reached its 100th year and is again facing a world at war-a war in which men are again fighting so that America might live and that memories such as those embodied in the Bayport hotel might live on.

Today it stands empty, deserted, rich in memories of things long past but not forgotten. We pause in the maelstrom of our existence in this country at war to pay tribute to this age-old structure that has weathered the storm of life for 100 years.