Steamboat Inn

In 1846, when George Duff (the original proprietor of the inn at Largo Harbour) died and his wife Ann decided to move to Upper Largo, the inn was advertised for let and offers were to be addressed to 'Alexander Selkirk, Largo'.  Of course, this Alexander Selkirk was not the one who inspired the tale of Robinson Crusoe but rather was a grocer in the village.  He may well have been a member of the 'Largo Granary Company' which managed the building.  It seems that perhaps no one put forward an offer, because Selkirk himself took on the inn and for the next twenty years or so was both a grocer and an innkeeper.  For some of that time he named the inn the 'Steamboat Inn' in recognition of its links with the steam boat services that called at Largo Harbour during that era.  As was the way at that time, the inn was also routinely referred to as 'Selkirk's Inn' (ie recognising who ran it rather than its official name).

By 1867, Selkirk was 67 and had suffered from bronchitis for many years.  He died in November that year.  The following advert appeared in the Fife Herald a few times around the turn of the year.

Shortly after this, James Gilchrist is recorded as the innkeeper at the harbour but he died in 1873. Gilchrist's wife Margaret appears to have been in charge for a while but the inn would soon change hands again and by the mid 1870s the inn was beginning to be referred to as the Crusoe Inn or Crusoe Hotel.  John Forrester had the inn in 1881 and still in 1891, according to census data. The Forresters were another interesting family who later branched out from the traditional inn to the newer concept of boarding houses.  More to come about them at a future date.