The Pacetti Hotel property has had many support structures over the years. From fish-cleaning buildings and boating sheds to garages and water towers, all sorts of small buildings have been utilized throughout the history of the site.
In the earliest days of the hotel, way back in the 1880s, the most notable separate structure would have been the kitchen. Most houses in Florida back then were designed with the kitchen either completely detached from the main house, or separated by a small breezeway like the principal keeper’s dwelling at the Mosquito Inlet Light Station next door to the Pacetti Hotel. One big reason for this separation was large wood-burning stoves. Aside from preventing that excess heat from entering the main building, if a fire were to break out in the kitchen, the rest of the house might be protected. Additionally, animals and pests attracted to the foods and smells of the kitchen would not find themselves in the main living section of the house.
Another ubiquitous structure back then was a privy. Before the days of indoor plumbing, a separate outhouse was needed to serve residents’ needs. Though no photographic evidence exists of a privy at Pacetti’s, it is difficult to image life in the 1800s there without one.
Being a fishing hotel, the Pacetti Hotel also had many structures that most other homes did not. Sheds to store and repair boats were a common site along the waterfront of the hotel throughout its history. So too were fish-cleaning buildings where the family could process the large amounts of fish that were caught and consumed by family and visitors alike. Some of these fish-cleaning sheds had screens to prevent flies from getting in. Others, like the one that still stands today, contained large sinks to help with the cleaning of fish, oysters, and other seafood.
On one side of this remaining fish-cleaning building is the garage, and on the other side is another smaller shed. These two sheds are believed to have been constructed around the 1950s or 60s, while the garage was constructed in the early 1980s.
