Docent-Led Tours of the Johann Fust Community Library

The Johann Fust Community Library has been at the core of the Boca Grande Community for decades, and now, after more than 74 years, the Johann Fust Library Foundation would like to share some of its rich history with the community. During the months of February, March, and April, the foundation will offer docent-guided tours (weather permitting) of the building and grounds once a week. The tours will be offered on Wednesday afternoons at 2 p.m.

During the 45-minute tour, docents will guide guests through the library spaces, sharing anecdotes and historical insights along the way. The tours will be offered at no charge, but advance registration is required. The docent volunteers have been training for several weeks and are well-versed in the library’s history, antiquities, architecture, and statuary. 

The Johann Fust Community Library was given to the people of Boca Grande and the Charlotte Harbor area by Roger and Louise Amory of Boston, Massachusetts. The library opened for business on January 1, 1950, as a non-profit, privately endowed institution. When constructed in 1949, the structures included the main library building, which contained an apartment on the second floor for visiting friends and family, a garage, a potting shed, a garden, and loggia. A modest cottage was built next door to the library for the librarian, Pansy Cost, and her husband, Tommy, the library’s superintendent. 

Mr. Amory was a banker, and he named the library in honor of Johann Fust, who he thought deserved recognition as the financier of Johann Gutenberg’s movable type printing press. The first major book printed using this method – The Gutenberg Bible – marked the beginning of the “Gutenberg Revolution” and the age of the printed book as we know it today. A leaf from this bible is on display in the library’s Stratton Room. 

The library has a rich history woven into the fabric of Boca Grande, and the Johann Fust Library Foundation and its docents wish to share these stories with Boca Grande residents and visitors.

Tour size is limited to 10 people, and the tours will be conducted weather permitting.