A two-year, $1.5-million renovation began immediately. And in November 1985 the hotel's 30 reconfigured guest rooms reopened.
"It's a town that's changing, but the face of the town won't change," Michael Koun said recently in the Gibson's vintage bar. "The people who have come here have bought homes and restored them. I don't think you're going to see condominiums rising. There's not that much room to grow. . . . The city's pretty big on not letting anyone tear down anything of historic significance."
Some think the Gibson is haunted by several ghosts, particularly Room 309, where a fishing-boat captain named Woods is said to have died half a century ago. The specifics are vague, but in any event some guests ask for Room 309.
"He's just mischievous," said Sue Wojtkonski Bodick, the hotel's assistant general manager, with a grin. "People say Captain Woods moves things around in the room. Pictures fall off the walls. Some people say he tucks them in every night."
Bodick, a native of Rochester, Mass., has never seen the ghosts, but the housekeeper and others claim they have.
The Gibson Inn is home to one of the best restaurants in town, Avenue Sea. Chefs David Carrier and his wife, Ryanne, lease the 62-seat restaurant, which was written up in Gourmet magazine last May. Selections from their five-course a la carte dinners - the menu changes daily - run $6-$15 each. Sides cost $7, desserts (Ryanne's specialty) $5-$6.
Carrier, a 1999 graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, tries to buy much of his naturally-grown food locally. Meals average $35-$40 per person.
Competition for the local dining dollar comes from a number of other popular restaurants, including Chef Eddie's Magnolia Grill and Apalachicola Seafood Grill, better known as The Grill. Both have Massachusetts ties.
Chef Eddie Cass, 61, talks of having studied under executive chefs at the Ritz-Carlton, the Parker House, and Harvard Club in Boston and graduating from the now defunct Chef Training Institute of New England in 1966.
"The chefs are here for the quality of life," Cass says. "It's very laid-back, and you don't have any cookie-cutter houses. This is becoming a dining destination, and the island is massive. From May to August we're jamming. We're going to be the Key West of the Redneck Riviera. There are a lot of artsy people here, craft people."
Beverly Hewitt, 61, co-owns the Grill, which boasts that it serves the world's largest fried fish sandwich ($13.95). Raised in Peabody and Gloucester, she followed relatives to Florida about 16 years ago and bought The Grill in 1992. The building has been a restaurant since 1903.
"Apalachicola is like one of the smaller fishing villages in Gloucester," Hewitt says. "It has the same salty feel. It's like Cheers: Everybody knows your name."
Frederick Burger, a freelance writer and editor in Anniston, Ala., can be reached at Ratliff123@aol.com.
