In 1937 Frank Burghduff came to visit the Gulf shores of Panama City Beach. He was so captivated by the beauty of the area that he decided to leave his home state of New York and move to Panama City Beach. He came with the dream to build a beach-front roadhouse that would earn nationwide acclaim. Burghduff began realizing his dream by purchasing beach front property just a few miles west, of then newly chartered, Panama City Beach. He designed and constructed a huge log building made of massive cypress trunks on the snow-white sand. He called his creation the ‘Old Dutch Tavern’, alluding to his Dutch heritage.
Not only did Burghduff have vision and drive, he had talent and capabilities that allowed him to fashion a roadhouse that would, in fact, gain wide spread recognition and fame. The interior was decorated with unusual and interesting curios from all over the world. The centerpiece was a huge stone fireplace that weighed many tons. Frank was ready to open the doors by 1940. The combination of a beach-front setting, warm ambiance and top-flight entertainment made the Old Dutch an instant success. The floor show presented by the Old Dutch on New Year’s Eve 1940 was “Pappy” Neal McCormick and his ‘Hawaiian Troubadours’. It is very likely that 17 year old Hank Williams had joined the Hawaiian Troubadours at the time. The appearance of Hank Williams presaged the quality of headliner entertainers that would grace the stage of the Old Dutch over the years.
Attendance grew steadily during the summer of 1940. The dream, however, almost came to a screeching halt on December 7th, 1941. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, wartime restrictions damped the ability of people to travel. Additionally, there were lights-out conditions all along Gulf beaches. Even though Panama City had more than double the population that it has today, it became a struggle to attract customers to the Old Dutch. Then, things got even worse. Rumors began to be spread about that Burghduff was a Nazi spy and communicated with U-Boats from a secret room in the Old Dutch. In desperation, Burghduff responded to the smear by publishing a notice in the local News Herald, claiming pride in his Dutch heritage and asserting that he was 100% American.
It can never be known if the rumors hastened the end for Burghduff at the Old Dutch Tavern, nevertheless he could no longer service his obligations and was forced to sell ownership of his dream – the beach-side roadhouse on the snow-white sand. However, this is not the end of the Old Dutch story. In fact, its glory years were yet to come. So, stay tuned, that’s the subject of another blog.
Fascinating. My mother-in-law was Gwendolynne Gainer who was birn in 1926 and grew up in St Andrew. I just found your site.
I knew the three Gainer sisters, all their names started with G; Gwen,Gloria, Gaynelle? I dated the youngest, once. They were all very attractive ladies. Hike-hiked from U of F, Gainesville to Tallahassee for our weekend date~maybe November 1949 FSU homecoming I think.
I met my “to-be-wife” in Old Dutch Tavern 15 July 1954. She was one of 5, 20+year old girls, on a two week “Florida Beaches” (Daytona, PC, Pensacola) vacation from their jobs at MS Power in Jackson, MS. I had just come back home to 327 Massalina Drive, PC, after 12 month combat tour in A-26 in Korea, to clean up sale of home now that both my parents had died. I was headed for Texas as USAF Flight School instructor. The 5 girls were on the return leg of their vacation. Billie Joe and I married ~6 month later in December 1954; together for a WONDERFUL 68+ years; 3 Kids- One a Blue Angel. I got out of USAF after 6 years and returned to U of F to finish my Aero/Astronautics degree. She helped by Pushing Hubby Through (her PHT). Graduation was followed by 35 years at Boeing-living in WA, FL, Holland and AL. I worked 12 years putting man-on-the–moon and US space station; was principal designer of MLRS rocket system (used in Ukraine). We sailed, camped and fished both TVA lakes and NW Cascades. At NATO request, Boeing transferred us to Geilenkirchen, FRG for two years, as head of Boeing European International Operations, to implement classified upgrade to NATO AWACS fleet of 18 aircraft based my US AWACS fleet work. We returned to US where together we designed and supervised building our 6000 sf retirement dream home on 5A of forest between a stocked lake and a 30 foot cascading waterfall with ~1000 feet of fishing stream in “mountain-lakes” part of AL. We lived there for 25 years. We built our lives on Jesus Christ- the Rock. We both knew this was our lives primary objective our second day together. We moved back to FL 2020 for her Mayo Clinic MDS cancer treatments, living a quarter miles from our retired Blue Angel son. Joe lasted 3.6 more years. She now waits for me to join her; it’s been a great 94 year adventure. Looking forward to continuing our new life together with our Savior.