SOUTH VENICE — A decade or so ago, it was known as “Pirate’s Cove,” a homeless encampment in South Sarasota County where about 100 people lived.
Fewer are there today and even less since a wildfire swept through it recently, destroying the remaining items of some of its residents.
Still, people have returned where burnt shrubbery and ash cover what once were empty cans of Natty Light along with saw palmetto and cabbage palms. A few areas have old couches; one has a “Take It Easy, Life Is Good” T-shirt pinned to a wall with a “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden flag waving nearby…