About Us
The story of Marsh Landing is one that is rooted in the community, by creating a welcoming space for everyone to come together to enjoy authentic local cuisine.
Owned and operated by a mother and daughter team, Fran and Susan Adams have created a unique and recognizable landmark in Fellsmere. Fran Adams grew up in the restaurant business, specializing in the local fare of fried chicken and barbecue, and as a Peace Corp volunteer in the 70’s and an elected official for 12 years, Fran spent her life in the service business. These traits and her talent for cooking, we’re embedded early on to her daughter Susan, so creating Marsh Landing together seemed like a natural fit.
Frans daughter Susan Adams grew up in Fellsmere, enjoying the rural lifestyle of the area. She attended FSU earning her law degree, and immediately returned to Fellsmere carrying on the family tradition of community involvement and has served as an elected official for over 12 years. The lure of restoring a unique landmark while sharing local history, brought Fran and Susan back to the restaurant business where they work to preserve native Florida cuisine and culture and have been having a ball doing it!
The Building
The Marsh Landing Restaurant building has elegance unmatched by modern construction. The wood windows and door frames are original cypress frames made from trees that were logged locally and cut in nearby lumber camps. The wainscot around the interior walls is the original tongue and groove ceiling, and most of the doors are original. Even the wainscot was covered in years of old paint that was planed off then varnished to reveal the rich golden hues of the original wood. Every effort was made to refurbish the building similar to the early days.
Originally built in 1926 for the Fellsmere Estates Corporation, it was within a few years, the headquarters for the Florida Crystal Sugar Company which was here through the early 1960’s. Fran and Susan restored the building back to these early days, by keeping the pay window located on the Southern side, where employees use to collect their paychecks, and also shifting the space back to the original blueprint. They separated the banquet room again like it use to be, and created the two private dining rooms to mimic the early executive offices of the sugar company.
Subsequently the building was used for municipal purposes, when City Council meetings were held in the large interior room and the police department occupied the North end of the building where the kitchen and office are now located. The concrete vault previously in that area was originally built to hold important documents for the corporation but while it was the police department, it reportedly held prisoners awaiting morning transportation to jail.
Sadly, the building was sold, boarded up and given to the city back in the 1980’s where it sat until October 1995, when Fran Adams bought the building at public auction for historic restoration purposes. Marsh Landing Restaurant opened its doors in November, 2002, and strives to bring you back in time to enjoy the early Florida simpler times when folks lived off the land, hand-made dishes and fine cuisine from scratch, and enjoyed good times all together.
