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Driftwood Motel celebrates 50 years in Jensen Beach
Icon on Indian River Lagoon one of few remaining mom and pop operations
BY KAYLEEN HARTMAN Correspondent for the TCPalm
Sunday, May 25, 2008
"JENSEN BEACH - Just more than 50 years ago, two brothers from Brooklyn, N.Y., took a two-week fishing trip to the Treasure Coast. They told each other, "We've found paradise. This is it."
One of the brothers, Bill Fulford, went back north to pick up his car and tell the rest of the family what he had found in Florida. They decided they were coming back with him.
Four Fulford siblings - Bill, Fred, Stan and Evelyn - packed up their families in Airstream trailers and headed south. In 1958, Fred, Bill, Evelyn, and Evelyn's husband, Robert Nethery, bought a cluster of fishing cottages on the Indian River and turned it into the Driftwood Motel.
On Sunday, family, friends, former guests and neighbors gathered at 4150 N.E. Indian River Drive to celebrate the motel's 50th anniversary.
Irene Gomes, the current owner, is the daughter of Evelyn Nethery, one of the original owners. Gomes inherited the Driftwood in 2000 from her grandmother, Zona Salsman, who took ownership of the hotel in 1970.
Gomes organized Sunday's celebration, which included two roasted pigs and a champagne toast."
For more of this article, go to http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/25/30gtdriftwood-motel-celebrates-50-years-in-beach/
One of the brothers, Bill Fulford, went back north to pick up his car and tell the rest of the family what he had found in Florida. They decided they were coming back with him.
Four Fulford siblings - Bill, Fred, Stan and Evelyn - packed up their families in Airstream trailers and headed south. In 1958, Fred, Bill, Evelyn, and Evelyn's husband, Robert Nethery, bought a cluster of fishing cottages on the Indian River and turned it into the Driftwood Motel.
On Sunday, family, friends, former guests and neighbors gathered at 4150 N.E. Indian River Drive to celebrate the motel's 50th anniversary.
Irene Gomes, the current owner, is the daughter of Evelyn Nethery, one of the original owners. Gomes inherited the Driftwood in 2000 from her grandmother, Zona Salsman, who took ownership of the hotel in 1970.
Gomes organized Sunday's celebration, which included two roasted pigs and a champagne toast."
For more of this article, go to http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/25/30gtdriftwood-motel-celebrates-50-years-in-beach/
A fun feature! The Driftwood Motel was featured in the 2022 Spring Summer United Colors of Benetton ad:
Driftwood Motel
4150 NE Indian River Dr.
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
(772) 334-2237
DriftwoodJB@comcast.net
© 2010 Driftwood Motel
Web design by Finished Vision
Driftwood Motel
4150 NE Indian River Dr.
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
(772) 334-2237
DriftwoodJB@comcast.net
© 2010 Driftwood Motel
Web design by Finished Vision