Whitey's Fish Camp, with restaurant, bar, marina and RV park. | Stephen Dirksen/Whitey's Fish Camp Facebook
Published on February 22, 2024 at 12:46 pm
The Whitey’s Fish Camp website says, “It’s the place to be since 1963.”
For just over 60 years, what started as a simple fish camp halfway between the communities of Fleming Island and Doctors Inlet on Swimming Pen Creek has survived and thrived as it expanded.
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But the family-owned landmark — a combination waterfront restaurant, boat marina and RV campground on County Road 220 — is now for sale. Co-owner Billy Ham said it’s time to sell the oldest restaurant in Clay County because he, sister Elaine Cassala and brother Luke Lawley just want to retire.
“I’m 60; I have a heart condition. My sister is 74, and my brother is 65. We all have health issues,” Ham said. “The market is great. Our business is better than it has ever been, and we think that now would be a great time to capitalize and look for an exit strategy and retire. … Life is short. We need to live and enjoy what we have left, you know?”
With no buyer yet identified, and no idea what that person might do with the iconic venue, Clay County Chamber of Commerce President Jon Cantrell said he “absolutely” hopes it continues as it is. It’s been a “kind of a hangout” for famous people like Molly Hatchet band members and Lynyrd Skynyrd founders Johnny and Donnie Van Zant, he said.
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“Everybody has that same wish. And of course, they are family to us,” Cantrell said. “Business is doing so well, and it’s really our only restaurant on the water, or that you can pull up in your boat and have lunch or dinner. And with the bands and the activity, everybody wants it to stay that way. And it’s in such a good position, I would imagine that it would.”
Ham said his father’s dream was always to own a fish camp, and his mother always wanted to own a restaurant.
So in 1963, Whitey Ham and his wife, Ann, started with the basics on the waterfront site. That was when it was just a tackle shop that sold some food, beer and sodas, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page. Six years later, the couple reworked the site with a bigger kitchen, dining room, bar and outside deck, followed by a 16-site mobile home site in 1970. In 1980, the campground became an RV park.
Whitey Ham “used to fish here all the time,” his son said. “The guy that owned it prior to him basically said ‘I will give you the opportunity to take this place and make it where you can afford it.’ … It’s not been an easy road. We’ve had our ups and downs.”
Whitey Ham died in 1997, followed by his wife 10 years later. But the restaurant complex continued until a fire in March 2002 destroyed the kitchen and seriously damaged the restaurant. The family rebuilt it all, reopening in early 2003.
The Colliers real estate listing on the property does not list a price for the sale. The assessed value of the site, according to Clay County Property Appraiser’s Office records, is $1.067 million.
The real estate listing that the almost 5-acre site is zoned for “intermediate business/single-family residential. And it says the site would offer the buyer “many revenue sources.” Those include the 9,476-square-foot restaurant with another 7,760 square feet of outdoor seating — room for about 650 patrons.
There’s also a 21-slip docking facility with boat ramp and bait shop. The RV campground has 40 spaces, along with several ancillary buildings including restrooms, showers and other amenities.
“We have to find a buyer first,” Ham said. “We have hired a broker, and that’s their job to find us a buyer. We are not going to give the place away. We don’t have to sell it. I mean, if we don’t sell it, we will look at other options.”
These days, Whitey’s employs about 125 people, some there many years, Ham said. And on a busy weekend, they will serve 1,000 customers who dine, drink and enjoy live music on the deck. But Ham said they have no control over what a new buyer might do with the site.
“If someone were to buy it outright, we don’t have a lot of controls on what they do with it,” he said. “We would certainly hope that they would keep it as is since the business is doing so well and it’s such a part of the community. … My motto is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
