Category: Photos

Christmas Eve at the Collier Inn

Photos by UseppaGin

The tall tree in the foyer, Shane’s eggnog in a crystal bowl, Roxanne behind the bar, and music in the Barron Collier Dining Room….

Then the carols and the Useppa Chorale led this year by Miller grandson Tor Carlson.

Family pictures, children singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, the Capella Bound brothers Harry, Jack and Pete, a duet with Tor and Lynne Sipprelle, plus The 12 Days of Christmas Maestro Steve Kaufman…. a night of Useppa merriment, joy, and gratitude.

Christmas Eve, Santa, Useppa Kids & the Fire Department

Photos by UseppaGin

Twas the Night Before Christmas when Santa arrived on the island for cake and ice cream, and to ride on the fire truck with Useppa’s children.

(Later he said confidentially, “Riding on a fire truck is even better than riding in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer.”)

Thanks Stokes Family for making it happen.

Thanks Santa for stopping by.

JR Hillier Employee of the Year 2015

Ed Oliveros Employee of the 4^th Quarter 2015

Good-bye to Lou Ann & Terry West

Pictures by UseppaGin

Thanks to all the generous contributors to the 2015 Employee Christmas Fund. Thank you to Lou Ann and Terry West for all you have given to Useppa. Congratulations to JR Hillier selected by Management as the 2015 Employee of the Year, and to the Collier Inn’s Ed Oliveros chosen as Useppa’s Employee of the 4^th Quarter.

2015 Employee Christmas Fund

The next few days are your last chance to support the 2015 Useppa Employee Christmas Fund. Whether volunteering as the Easter Bunny, helping kids learn to fish, serving meals at the Collier, working behind the bar, toting luggage, planning a party, mowing a lawn, pruning a tree, fixing an electrical or plumbing problem, running a boat, working in the office, Useppa employees are always ready to help.

The Employee Christmas Fund is our Island way of saying thank you. Donations can be made by check or charged to your account.

Gifts are distributed at the Employee Christmas Party on the 24^th

If you’ve already given, thank you.

If you haven’t, you still have time.

Thankfulness and Celebration 

By UseppaGin

A new baby’s Christening, a Sundance award winning movie and its star, Beacon of Hope fund raisers, an island-wide dance party in the Tarpon Bar… families and friends gathered on Useppa to celebrate and give thanks.

From Australia, Rwanda, Hong Kong, London, Ethiopia and points East, West, North and South in the United States; we played volleyball, fished, swam, laughed, talked and partied. Useppa rocked!

Where else but on Useppa can we have so much fun doing good deeds, celebrating family and saying “Thank You”…

Members Cocktail Party Part II

Photos by UseppaGin

More pictures from a great night. Members from on and off Useppa enjoyed themselves at one of the best island parties in recent memory.

Annual Useppa Island Members Cocktail Party: Part I

Auspicious Beginning to a New Season

Photographs by UseppaGin 

On Saturday, November 14th the Useppa Island Club hosted its annual Members Cocktail Party. The food was excellent. Platters of lamp chops, oysters, roast beef, and so much more; delicious appetizers passed inside the Island’s Collier Inn and outside on the patio. A saxophonist kept time with the weaving conversations of old and new friends. It was a night to celebrate Useppa.

A Thank You from Bill Marquardt

Long time Useppa Member, Curator of South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography, Director, Randell Research Center Florida Museum of Natural History.

Karen Walker and I were pleased to attend the Members Cocktail Party on Saturday.

As we approached the Collier with our dear friend Ginny Amsler, I couldn’t help but think of the first time I was invited into the Collier dining room. It had been 30 years!

When some palm trees were removed just below the swimming pool, human bones were discovered. Gar Beckstead asked if someone from the Florida Museum of Natural History could come down and investigate. That someone turned out to be me. One of the skulls we discovered became “Useppa Woman,” now on display in the island’s fine museum. I was treated like a king, with cocktails and dinner in the Collier each night, thanks to Gar. Not your typical archaeological experience!

Since then, Karen and I have done many archaeological projects on the island including the discovery of the Calusa Man on Calusa Ridge, and the discovery of the bones from a dog over three thousand years old on a south end dig just two years ago. We have experienced Useppa hospitality first hand, not just from Gar and Tim Fitzsimmons – my first hosts – but from many Useppans, who we now consider our good friends.

Last Saturday, it was good to see some familiar faces, renew acquaintances, and also to meet some new members. On Useppa, we feel at home.

Good music, good food, good friends. A wonderful evening and an auspicious beginning to the new season.

Lazy Fall Days On an Island

Photographs by UseppaGin

Families and friends at the pool, the grotto, on the croquet lawn, on the tennis courts, on the beach… all ingredients of fall on Useppa.