BlockFrom the record
One of 16 National Register listings published here for Charlotte County · listed in 1991 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Willis Fish Cabin at Bull Bay
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. 8 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1956.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. Bull Bay N of Bull Key, Placida
- When was it listed? April 1991
- Category. building
- Also known as. Fish Cabins of Charlotte Harbor MPS
- Census division. Grove City-Rotonda
- National Register reference number. 91000400 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1956 to 1981The ground this property stands on, surveyed 25 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Fires near this property
6 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Willis Fish Cabin at Bull Bay between 2003 and 2019, burning about 436 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 August 2017 | Natural | 30 acres | Florida Forest Service | CHARLOTTE HARBOR PARK (08) |
| 30 July 2003 | Natural | 70 acres | Florida Forest Service | 2003-15-1081 |
| 22 May 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 310 acres | Florida Forest Service | CHARLOTTE HARBOR SP |
| 10 May 2019 | Natural | 20 acres | Florida Forest Service | ROTONDA (08) |
| 17 February 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 338 |
| 5 November 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 08-CHERRY FIRE-0614 |
Storms near this property
6 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Placida, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 waterspout, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2022 | Tornado (EF1) | Placida | $500,000 | Placida/Gasparilla tornado. A waterspout moved across Gasparilla Sound near Boca Grande Causeway before moving ashore near Placida as a short-lived EF-1 tornado with peak winds estimated around 110 mph. The tornado flipped a boat at a marina storage facility and damaged several others before moving into a manufactured home community where it damaged at least 35 homes. No injuries or deaths were reported. Damage estimates totaled around $500 thousand USD. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Placida | $20,000 | A boat was capsized by thunderstorm winds near Don Pedro and Little Gasparilla islands. |
| July 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Placida | - | Broadcast media shared multiple pictures and videos of 3 simultaneous funnel clouds east of Boca Grande near Charlotte Harbor associated with a developing thunderstorm. |
| March 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Placida | - | Charlotte County Sheriffs Office relayed a report of 2 downed banyan trees blocking Green Dolphin Drive in Placida. Time estimated based on radar. |
| September 2001 | Waterspout | Placida | - | A Skywarn Spotter reported a waterspout southwest of Gasparilla Pass. |
| June 2000 | Waterspout | Placida | - | A waterspout was reported by the Charlotte County Emergency Management between Placida and Boca Grande in the Gasparilla Sound. |
Maps showing this location
8 surveysUnited States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
- 1956 USGS Charlotte Harbor quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Punta Gorda SW quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Punta Gorda Sw quadrangle1:24000
- 1959 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1972 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Charlotte Harbor quadrangle1:100000
Listed places nearby
2 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Icing Station at Bull Bay | 0.2 miles | 1991 | |
| West Coast Fish Company Residential Cabin at Bull Bay | 0.3 miles | 1991 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 91000400 in Record Group 79. |
| Charlotte County | All 16 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.