For 10,000 years, Indians hunted the prairies and fished the watersof what later became Pass-A-Grille. The last group of NativeAmericans to settle in the Pinellas County area were the Tocobagasaround 1000-1700 A.D. This are was first visited by Europeansin 1528, when the Spanish explorer, Panfilio de Narvaez, anchoredoff Pass-A-Grille Pass. Afterwards the island was used as a campground for fishermen to obtain fresh water and to grill their catch.According to legend, it is thought that Pass-A-Grille derives itsname from the French, Passe aux Grilleurs. In 1857, John Gomez, selfstyled, "last of the pirates", began bringing excursionists here fromTampa, which gave this area the distinction of perhaps being theoldest resort on Central Florida's West Coast. Zephaniah Phillips, thefirst homesteader settled here in 1886, and by the turn of the centuryPass-A-Grille had its first hotel and a ferry boat service fromwhat is now Gulfport. The town of Pass-A-Grille Beach was incor-porated into the city of St. Petersburg Beach in 1957, and in 1989,a section of Passe-A-Grill was declared a National Historic District.
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