On June 22, 1876 James Lockhart and his wife chose a home site on the south side of Charlotte Harbor where the city of Punta Gorda is today. Born in GA, James Lockhart moved to present-day Gainesville. After serving in Co. B, 2nd FL Infantry and wounded at Gettysburg he and Josephine married and ended up at a new settlement on the Peace River's north shore. By June 1876 they moved near Nathan Decoster's settlement of Harborview on the harbor's southside where the Punta Gorda Waterfront Hotel and Suites now stands. The lack of potable water was a problem for earlier settlement attempts. James found water in his well and they moved. In 1879 the Lockharts sold out to James Lanier. Lanier expanded his land holdings and sold them to Isaac Trabue in 1883. Trabue platted a new town in 1885 which was incorporated as Punta Gorda in 1887. Marion McAdow was a painter and she painted this picture of the house that was on the land Isaac Trabue bought from James M. Lanier.
