and courage and adventure. It has many tales to tell and within 

the walls of the museum, artifacts of the past bear witness to 

its lineage—tracing its lifeline from a tiny village nestled along 

the shoreline to the bustling and vibrant city that has become 

known as a piece of paradise. “The Museum’s mission statement 

is ‘to preserve Destin’s history by stimulating interest…and 

[providing an] understanding of the village of Destin, its history, 

and its fishing and tourism industries through experiences that 

educate and inspire,’” says Executive Director Kathy Marler 

Blue. “It really serves as the key repository for the history of 

Destin’s founding families, the development of the city and its 

surrounding areas and the local charter and commercial fishing 

industry. For someone who is newly visiting the area, taking a trip 

to the Museum helps them understand the Destin of today by 

stepping back in time to the way things once were, to the village 

of Destin.” Blue continues “for locals, the Museum offers an 

important reminder of the many, many things that we have the 

unique opportunity to enjoy here, living in such a beautiful place 

with such an interesting past.”  

Located in the old Destin Library building on Stahlman 

Avenue, the Destin History and Fishing Museum is home to a 

host of pieces of Destin’s roots, showcasing items donated by the 

city’s founding families as well as those contributed by generous 

businesses and individuals who hope to enrich our knowledge of 

the many ways that Destin is so special. It is a treasure trove to 

behold—photos and letters, physical mementos of everyday life, 

pieces of the very tools of the industry that has long carried the 

city on its back. All of them are collected here to be studied and 

discussed, to be wondered at and held in reverence.  

Among the many marvels to behold are the two dry 

“aquariums” that are at the museum’s entrance. The Reef 

Ecosystem Recreation is a static display of aquatic life that seems 

to offer an up-close and personal look at just what lies in the 

deepest depths, while the Shark Tank contains a fierce foursome 

of sharks, including a hammerhead shark that measures eight 

and a half feet and a world record holding smooth hound shark. 

An impressive array of locally caught fish line the wall on the 

Mike Long Memorial Fish Wall and a variety of exhibits spread 

throughout the building offer facts and figures on Destin’s 

culture, its natural environments and all manner of scientific and 

historic details related to the area. 

For the perfect selfie-moment, take a picture with the eleven-

foot seven-inch alligator who stands guard just inside or snap 

a smile with the wickedly realistic Megladon shark jaw replica 

that hangs outside. In the Museum Heritage Park, visitors can 

take their tour outdoors and view an exhibit of Destin’s very first 

Post Office building as well as two restored boats whose histories 

figure greatly into Destin’s own —the last seine boat still in 

existence, called Primrose, and a mullet boat called Lil Jimmy.

Whether you’re new to the area, on a visit, or have lived here 

all your life there’s always something to learn, something to find 

and view with fresh eyes. It’s places like the Destin History and 

Fishing Museum that stand as sentinels of the past and serve as 

representatives of the stories that make the world so intriguing, 

so beautiful, and so mysterious. So many lives have been lived 

and are yet to be lived in this great big sea of people—and each of 
these lives undoubtedly have their very own fish stories to tell.

Destin History & Fishing Museum, Inc., is located at 108 

Stahlman Avenue, Destin, Florida 32541. Open Tuesday- 

Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. For information on ticket pricing 

and membership packages, call (850) 837-6611 or visit www.

destinhistoryandfishingmuseum.org

October/November 2016   |   29

“For someone who is newly visiting the area, taking a trip to the Museum 

helps them understand the Destin of today by stepping back in time to the 

way things once were, to the village of Destin.”

XX-XX AdventureOut.indd   2

9/27/16   1:17 PM