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First Sarasota Scam?
Author: saradesota
Befuddled or bedazzled by Florida?
Befuddled or bedazzled by the Florida flora, you’ll enjoy this real-life experience of local gardens. AND the glimpse of the Gillespie Park neighborhood (don’t miss the Gallery of Patriots, created by the Hispanic-American Civic Association, Inc. in 1977. It features 14 outdoor sculptures-on-pedestals including U.S. President Lincoln, U.S. President Washington, Simon Bolivar (Venezuela), Jose Marti (Cuba), among others.
A self-guided public walking tour through six home gardens in the Gillespie Park District of Sarasota. Organized by the Historical Society of Sarasota County and the Gillespie Park Neighborhood Association
Enjoy a Springtime stroll through this delightful neighborhood of vintage homes while viewing six charming gardens in a historic setting. Many of the homes attached to the gardens on this tour are historically designated and represent styles of architecture fashionable throughout Sarasota’s development. The neighborhood is 100 years old.
Tour goers will see Craftsman bungalows, Mediterranean Revival homes, farmhouse style and Midcentury Modern too. Tour goers will see a cottage garden, a naturalistic one, a garden where hardscape and art are featured — all manner of gardens, even one where the homeowner selected non-toxic blooms because her two dogs play outside.
Don’t miss a chance to peek at the Historic Boat and Light Houses built in 1933 for Arthur Rowe, former yacht captain to John Ringling during your stroll through the neighborhood as well as visit the Gardener’s Boutique where you can purchase potted cuttings from the tour and unique garden accessories (cash or check only, no credit cards.)
Receive your tickets, $20, at Crocker Memorial Church, the Historical Society’s gathering place at 1260 12th Street, Sarasota. Your ticket includes a tour of the historic Bidwell-Wood House in Pioneer Park. See the beautiful Historical Society Gardens, receive your map, take a quick drive to Gillespie Park and follow your map to experience 6 unique private residential gardens that will delight and inspire. For additional information 941-364-9076 (the Historical Society office.)
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The Latest Health News: from 1908
This reprint from 1908 is fascinating. In that era, “sanitarium” meant private hospital as opposed to public hospital (Sarasota Municipal Hospital was over a decade in the future; its current moniker of Sarasota Memorial Hospital was even further on.)
And the benefit below, “No Contagious or Infectious Diseases admitted“, refers to the fear of patients seeking health cure stays of being unwittingly infected with tropical fevers or tuberculosis.
The Halton Sanitarium
Sarasota, Florida
Until now, there has been great need for a properly equipped, modern sanitarium located in a warm and pure climate; where at all seasons, even in mid-winter, the temperature is comfortable; where
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Figgy pudding? Sounds weird.
Many of our traditional carols have references to items and occurrences that have faded from memory. “Troll the ancient Yuletide carol”? Isn’t a troll this?
For some insight into your favorite Christmas carols, we’ve found this article for you. (BTW that’s a fun blog to visit for history-minded folks.)
So why are Christmas carols
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Nostalgia.
This time of year, nostalgia creeps up on not just history buffs, but everyone, it seems. A holiday potpourri from the HSoSC archives for your delight today.
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Adaptive reuse, repair, and renovations
Keeping historic buildings up is, well, a challenge. Join us to help preserve Sarasota’s past.
The Bidwell-Wood House and Crocker Memorial Church are two of Sarasota’s most successful examples of preserving historic buildings through adaptive reuse. These historically designated buildings need constant maintenance, sensitive repairs and renovations to continue to serve the community and preserve historic status.
Where we are as of December 2025:
During the past few years
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A nickel for your thoughts?
That doesn’t quite have the ring of “a penny for your thoughts”, does it? Will we be saying “A Starbucks saved, a Starbucks earned” in the future?
The American penny died last week in Philadelphia. It was 232 years old.
The cause was irrelevance and expensiveness, the Treasury Department said.
Nothing could be bought any more with a penny, not even penny candy. Moreover, the cost to mint the penny had risen to more than 3 cents, a financial absurdity that doomed the coin.
The final pennies
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The Maps That Change Florida’s History
On Sunday, November 16 2025 our Conversation @ the Crocker at 2:00pm : Author James MacDougald will talk on Revisiting the Ponce de Leon and Narvaez Settlement Expeditions. He is working on an article that “provides evidence that the first European colony
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Time passes slowly in Sarasota
Since we just changed our clocks, I thought you’d like to read this excerpt from a Jeff LaHurd article plus additional info from the Observer newspapers on the Palmer Bank Clock.
Palmer Bank, standing proudly at Five Points in downtown Sarasota, was established in the Roaring 20s by Bertha Palmer’s sons, Honoré Palmer and Potter Palmer Jr., along with Prince Michael Cantacuzene (a Russian nobleman and husband of Bertha’s niece, Julia Dent Grant).
Its iconic cornerstone clock noted the time of day for generations.
(Ed. note: See, parking downtown
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Sure sign that Fall is back!
We may not have sweater-weather when the calendar turns to fall, but we DO welcome the Phillippi Farmhouse Market back… this year, on Wednesday October 1. Located on Tamiami Trail/41 at 5500 S. Trail, it’s Florida at its best (and a bit of Come-From-Afar too… bonzai, bagels!)
In addition to providing wonderful foods and
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Welcome a new Jeff LaHurd book!
The People and Places that made a Paradise, by local historian and member of the HSoSC Board Jeff LaHurd, is the newest addition to his remarkable series of Sarasota County historical references. This 17th book from LaHurd is a compilation of many of his articles that have appeared in newspapers and magazines which you might have missed.
When in doubt as to whether some iota of our history is fact or fiction, you can trust Jeff’s painstaking research. He’s been researching and writing about Sarasota for 35 years.
He moved here as a young boy with his family, went
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“The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened.”
That’s a quote we can all nod and smile at. It’s from Mark Twain, the literary legend and timeless humorist. Truly a historic figure for the ages and one from whom we can continually learn.
The Mark Twain Society has chosen Crocker Memorial Church for their performance venue this season, and HSoSC can’t be more pleased. There will be a series of lectures on Twain, a condensed autobiography of Mark Twain delivered by Twain interpreter Alan Kitty “in no particular order the way life happens,” and even a look at Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in their dotage… in 1925 St. Pete!
The MT folks have also, most graciously, offered a free, private performance for our members on Saturday, .January 10 at 3:00 pm of A FORK IN THE ROAD, two monologues by Sarah Grigsby and Rhonda Liss, celebrating resilience. The only weapon against adversity is perseverance and laughter. Against these nothing can stand. For this special performance, you don’t need to buy tickets in advance. For all other performances, they have offered a discount to our members. See their full schedule here.
Ed. Note: Think Mr. Twain is not worth considering nowadays? May I leave you with this quote from him: “The government is merely a servant―merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.”
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The Day We Touched the Moon
Today in History: July 20 1969
Fifty-six years ago today, while Woodstock was still a month away and the Vietnam War dominated headlines, humanity achieved something that would have seemed impossible to our grandparents: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.
1969 was already quite a year. Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated as president, promising
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Fresh now, fresh 100+ years ago too.
Remember when I told you history could be found all over? Well, Walt’s Fish Market Restaurant has been serving up fish from our sea since 1918, and here’s its history that’ll
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One hundred years ago, may I present Sarasota
Actually, may I present longtime Sarasotaphile, Rex Carr, whose wonderful detail work this map is!
To this aerial photo of Sarasota in 1925, Rex has added some landmarks for us.
Rex writes: “I’ve posted a second version of the photo with my own annotations to help you appreciate the photo to its fullest extent. I’ve also highlighted a few
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The Historical Society of Sarasota County 