Back in 1763, one of St. Augustine's Historical Citizens of note, Francisco Rodriquez Jacinta, built a landing so ships could tie up and deliver their cargo to the frontier city. Through the years, the landing has been a home, a commercial fishing dock, and today...a restaurant serving locals and visitors to America's oldest city.
There are many stories that could be told about the landing. It has been owned by twenty different people to date, some of them were very colorful characters to say the least.
On Sept. 15, 1954, Louis & Marguerite Connell opened a restaurant on this landing. They established this business with a lot of hard work and very little money. The landing was in very bad repair at this time and only determination on their part made it successful.
In 1964, Hurricane Dora dealt the restaurant a heavy blow. The restaurant was closed for nine months in order to save as much of the old building as possible, (the last time the landing was completely rebuilt was in 1885.) Throughout the years, the restaurant has been expanded several times in order to accommodate its customer demand.
During the early years when Mr. Connell was sitting around with some of his cronies, he got the idea of getting fish to come around the restaurant and feed. Of course all his friends said it couldn't be done. "Well," he said, "we'll just see." Today we have thousands of fish waiting around the landing to be fed. Some of the different kinds of fish are mullet, catfish, pan fish, trout and needle fish. These fish are usually here from March through September. In the winter months with fish will leave but the birds will arrive for the customers to feed. Please ask your waitress when you visit about feeding our unusual pets.
On Dec. 31, 1970, Louis Connell passed away. The restaurant is now run by his son and daughter-in-law, Carl and Sylvia Connell, (except when Mama Connell decides not to be retired.)
The Connell Family hopes you will come and visit with us; we are certain you will become one of our many regular customers.
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