The Legendary History (or Historical Legend) of John’s Pass...

In the early years of the 19th century, Florida was a lawless land -- not yet a state, but still an American Territory. It was a wild and rugged terrain, full of pine forests and mangrove-covered islands. Few people made their homes in the region, but there was one type attracted to the isolation of Florida’s West Coast… Pirates.

One such individual was a man named John Levique. A Frenchman by birth, Levique was a Captain during the Golden Age of piracy.  At the end of his career, the fortune he had amassed totaled a magnificent chest of Spanish doubloons. He had hidden his chest right off the beach on an island on Florida's West Coast, an area he would oftentimes visit when he had to hide out for a while. It was an un-named and isolated island that would one day be named Madeira Beach. 

On the morning of September 27, 1848, however, Levique found that a hurricane had cut his long skinny island clean in two. As he sailed through the new pass, John Levique realized his treasure had been lost. Since that day, the inlet has been known as John's Pass, in honor of John Levique's discovery and maiden passage through the waterway. 

Levique lived out the remainder of his life on the local beaches, fishing and swimming by day, searching for his lost treasure by night. He lived to a ripe old age, seeing his isolated island become a quaint fishing community.

John's Pass Village and Boardwalk has been a must-see attraction on Florida's west coast for decades, always retaining its charm and quiet splendor. Folks come from all over to enjoy our beaches, stroll along our Boardwalk, and fish in the same waters where John Levique spent his life searching for his lost treasure -- the treasure he never found.

In fact, some say it's still there . . .