Between 1889 and the early 1900’s, boat travel was the primary means of transportation south and west of Punta Gorda. In winter at the turn of the 20th century, many yachts anchored near its shores, and naphtha cabin boats such as the “Myakka,” owned by Charles Dean of New England, brought some of the first “snowbirds” to local waters. Sharpie sailboats used for commercial fishing roamed the harbor, while Perry and Marian McAdow, early wealthy residents, entertained the town’s elite on their sailing schooner, the “Roamer.” In the community’s early years, paddle wheelers carrying freight and passengers traveled the Peace River with goods and travelers from Charlotte Harbor to Fort Myers, Cuba, Key West, New Orleans, and Tampa. Steamboats including the “Alice Howard” and the “Clara” carried mail and passengers between Punta Gorda and Fort Myers, and later the “St. Lucie” and “Thomas A. Edison” were among the ships making the 76-mile run. Morgan Line steamers arrived from New Orleans at the Long Dock and left the same day for Key West and Havana. Before the railroad reached Boca Grande in 1907, steam tugboats including the “Albert F Dewey” and the “Mary Blue” hauled phosphate on barges down the Peace River.