Things to do nearCabbage Key

Cabbage Key has been drawing visitors to Pine Island Sound since the 1930s, when novelist and playwright Mary Roberts Rinehart built a home atop a prehistoric Calusa shell mound on this small barrier island. That original structure became the inn that still stands today, a weathered wooden building elevated above the surrounding mangroves with sweeping views of the surrounding water and islands. The site's deep roots in Florida literary and nautical history give it a character that newer destinations simply cannot replicate.

The inn's interior is its most talked-about feature: thousands of signed and dated dollar bills cover nearly every surface of the walls and ceiling, a tradition started decades ago by a fisherman who wanted to ensure he always had beer money waiting for him. Visitors add their own bills to the collection, which has grown into one of southwest Florida's most distinctive folk art installations. The dining room serves straightforward American seafood and burgers in a setting that feels genuinely lived-in rather than staged for tourists.

Outside the inn, Cabbage Key offers a short nature trail through a landscape shaped by centuries of Calusa habitation. The shell mound itself rises well above the otherwise flat island, offering rare elevated views across the sound. Dolphins are frequently spotted from the dock, and the surrounding waters are popular with kayakers, anglers, and boaters exploring the broader Charlotte Harbor estuary.

For anyone drawn to old Florida, Cabbage Key offers a rare and authentic glimpse of what this coastline looked and felt like long before development reshaped so much of the peninsula.