Mac McKenzie purchased the property and the Tea Room which is located just south of the hotel and ran a small hand pumped gas station and oil company. This gas station is located between the hotel and restaurant and now serves as "The Cottage," one of our larger rooms. Mac then built a drug store next door.

The front entrance of the restaurant is still slanted in the original curve of the highway that once passed through. The two story concrete building which is now the hotel was started in 1935 with intentions of being a theater. The theater was almost complete when the 1935 hurricane swept through the Keys taking almost everything in its path including the Flagler Railroad.

Made of concrete, the hotel survived the widespread destruction and was used by the American Red Cross for housing the many people left homeless by the storm. In the meanwhile, Mac had closed the drug store and had opened an auto repair shop in 1936. When the Red Cross vacated the building, Mac completed the theater and ran it for about one year. However, the theater did not prove to be profitable, so Mac added a wooden floor and stairs an converted the theater into the hotel as it remains today.

The Inn's current owners and management team are committed to the property's refurbishment and the systematic renovation of all guest accommodations in order to not only perserve this unique piece for Florida Keys history, but also to further enrich the guest stays.