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2. Indian PassCounty Road 30A
In 1903 when James T. McNeill and his family came to Indian Pass, than known as the Lagoon, from Wewahitchka, there were no roads. They had to travel along the old railroad bed and then follow the coast to their destination. His first wife Virginia Rhodes McNeill died in 1903 or 1904. Here Mr. McNeill turpentined a track of 13,000 acres. Later he supplied saw timber for the mill in Port St. Joe and pulpwood for the paper mill. In 1916 Gypsie McNeill, J.T.’s second wife, applied for a post office at the Lagoon and on the application the named was changed to Indian Pass. Indian Pass had been the name of Port St. Joe until 1910. Indian Pass itself is a narrow body of water used by the Indians to travel from the Gulf of Mexico to Apalachicola Bay. In 1929, J.T. McNeill built a commissary for his workers, which later evolved into a general store. In the 1930s Gypsie McNeill ran the Gulf View Tea Room in the east portion of the building. The Apalachicola Times reported on April 1, 1933, in an article entitled “Beach becoming very popular,” that “Mrs. McNeill advises that many persons who live in this section visit the beach nearly every afternoon and evening to take advantage of the wonderful recreational opportunities it has to offer. A number of fun seekers and vacationers motor to the Lagoon for the entire afternoon, taking dinner at the tea room and returning home later in the evening.” James T. McNeill, Jr., recalls riding his Shetland pony 3 miles to the county line so the school bus could pick him up and take him to high school in Apalachicola. After service in World War II and graduation from the University of Florida, Jimmy returned to Indian Pass and began a successful wholesale seafood business (oysters, shrimp and fish). In 1985, Hurricane Kate damaged the store and nearly destroyed the McNeill oyster business. The McNeills had more oysters than they could personally consume but not enough to stay in the wholesale business. Their son James T. McNeill III asked if he could convert the building to the Indian Pass Raw Bar, which quickly became popular with celebrities as well as locals. Severely damaged by Hurricane Dennis in July 2005, the restored and newly renovated oyster bar reopened July 14, 2006.
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