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The Highwaymen give, they don’t take…

If you’ve not heard the story of Florida’s Highwaymen (and one Highwaywoman), it’s a fascinating one…

Their palette included vibrant colors of verdant greens, sunset oranges – and blues and grays that often featured the sun or moon backlighting the scene. The Highwaymen often painted from memory as they captured scenes of the natural Florida they had grown up with, one that was yielding to the development brought on by the state’s mid-Twentieth Century growth.

By necessity, the men (and one woman) painted as an alternative to the backbreaking work of picking and packing Florida citrus – a typical job for African Americans in the 1950’s. Those days were still part of a racially segregated “Jim Crow” South, and painting, then selling their art, gave them an opportunity to succeed in a whole new way.

Their palette included vibrant colors of verdant greens, sunset oranges - and blues and grays that often featured the sun or moon backlighting the scene. The Highwaymen often painted from memory as they captured scenes of the natural Florida they had grown up with, one that was yielding to the development brought on by the state’s mid-Twentieth Century growth. By necessity, the men (and one woman) painted as an alternative to the backbreaking work of picking and packing Florida citrus – a typical job for African Americans in the 1950’s. Those days were still part of a racially segregated “Jim Crow” South, and painting, then selling their art, gave them an opportunity to succeed in a whole new way.

(Rumor has it, a great supporter of HSoSC collects Highwaymen art. Perhaps one day, we could borrow some for an exhibit in the Crocker Church?)

Read the article here.

The Florida Highwaymen web site.

Highwaymen art photo borrowed from Authentic Florida.

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An Historic Evening on the North Trail

By Averette - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15375126

An arts district streetscape in Miami.

Artspace Sarasota is a group of citizens who are focusing on North Tamiami Trail, past and present, and its untapped potential for arts-related development. The North Trail corridor is the proposed location for an affordable housing initiative for artists and the creative sector.

This initiative addresses our mission at HSoSC, which is to foster public awareness of our rich historical heritage, encourage inquiry and research into this history, develop a broader appreciation of its historical communities, and protect its historic sites and structures. We welcome ArtspaceSRQ’s meeting in the historic Crocker Church.

This ArtSpaceSRQ fund-raising event will be moderated by Lorrie Muldowney, preservation consultant and former manager of the Sarasota County History Center, on Monday, March 21, and promises a stimulating exchange.

Chicago-based Martin Treu, renowned architect and urban designer, will present The North Trail, Historic Gateway to Sarasota. His recent book, Signs, Streets, and Storefronts, showcases his multi-disciplinary approach to documenting and critiquing streetscapes. Treu has lectured nationally about signs and architectural history and recently launched Eye on Main Street, an organization formed to showcase, interpret, and nurture historic and contemporary Main Street urbanism.

On the same program, Megan McLaughlin, with notable governmental planning experience in Florida, will present Preserving MiMo as a Revitalization Strategy: Success and Contradiction in Miami. The Mimo district shares strong parallels with Sarasota’s North Tamiami Trail.

The event will be held at the historic Crocker Church, 1260 Twelfth Street in Sarasota. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7. A reception and book signing will follow at the adjacent Bidwell-Wood House. A minimum donation of $10.00 is requested. For more information, visit ArtspaceSRQ or contact Veronica Morgan.

Photo by Averette – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15375126
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Earlye Musicke in Historic Crocker Church

On Tuesday March 22, 2016 the Sarasota Earlye Musicke Consort will be performing for the 4th season in a row for members and guests of the Historical Society of Sarasota County.  The program will be presented at the Crocker Memorial Church in Pioneer Park,  1260 12th Street (between US41 and Cocoanut Avenue) beginning at 7pm.

Earlye Musick Consort will perform at Historical Society of Saraspota County on March 22 2016The members of this consort, performing in period costume, play music dating from the 14th century to the 21st century on recorders and viols. This concert is free for HSOSC members; a $10 donation is requested from guests.  The group is led by Charlotte Trautwein.

The Sarasota Earlye Musicke Consort was recently awarded a 15 year certificate by the National American Recorder Society, recognizing the ensemble’s contribution to Sarasota and the surrounding communities.  The Sarasota chapter of ARS recently hosted the national board meetings for ARS at the Crocker Memorial Church, where they gather for class and group playing for intermediate and advanced players every week.

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Surprising Facts and Stories about Florida

Surprising Facts and Stories about Florida are Revealed

Esteemed archaeologist, Marion Almy and acclaimed historian,  Janet Snyder Matthews, longtime friends of the Historical Society and experts on Florida, come together on the stage of the Crocker Memorial Church for an informal conversation and photographic presentation. They will chat about the things that fascinate them about Florida. Come and be fascinated too!

 

These two experts will share facts and stories and rare Continue reading →

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The Great Developers, 1920s and Today

The Great Developers, 1920s and Today is the topic for the upcoming Conversation at The Crocker

Real Estate expert Harold Bubil will converse with three developers who have had a major impact on shaping modern Sarasota. What is the process of development? Their limits? How do they survive boom and bust?

In many ways the history of Sarasota, and indeed all of Florida, is the history of real estate. And playing a major role in that long saga of boom, bust, progress and preservation are the great developers of the past, recent past and present.

Are developers visionaries who shape the land for progress, or villains who rape the land for profit? “Nothing so absolute or dramatic,” says Harold Bubil, Real Estate Editor at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He will lead a conversation about the influence of great developers who have come to Florida to realize personal ambitions and specific visions of towns and communities rising from the sand.

This conversation takes place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the Crocker Memorial Church, 1260 12th Street in Sarasota’s Pioneer Park. The event is free to Historical Society members and students and $10 for guests who may pay at the door.

Joining the conversation Continue reading →

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Historical vegetables, storm water management, and birds. Lots and lots of birds.

What is the area known as the Celery Fields and why was it historically important? And why is it so significant to Sarasota’s health and economy today?

Two naturalists from the Sarasota Audubon Society, Jeanne Dubi and Barry Gerber, will entertain and enlighten us with an illustrated presentation, “Celery Fields, Past, Present and Future” at the January Conversation at The Crocker, Tuesday, January 12, 2016, starting at 7 p.m.

Mother and chick at the Celery Fields. I don't know what bird this is. Guess I'll be going to the January Conversation at the Crocker on Tuesday Jan. 12, 2016 at 7pm!

Mother and chick at the Celery Fields. I don’t know what bird this is. Guess I’ll be going to the January Conversation at the Crocker on Tuesday Jan. 12, 2016 at 7pm!

Jeanne Dubi is Continue reading →

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When do JAM and OIL go together?

When it’s ARTISTS IN THE PARK and JAMMIN’ IN THE CROCKER day at the Historical Society on Sunday, January 17, 2016 from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.!

Jack Dowd and Sal Garcia for your dancing pleasure atthe Historical Society of Sarasota CountyIt’ll be a feast for the ears and eyes when the internationally famous local sculptor, Jack Dowd, joins Continue reading →

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Today in History: The Chidsey Library Dedication, 1941!

The books of Sarasota finally get their own home as the Chidsey Library was dedicated. The cost of the building was $18,500, and was a gift of John Chidsey. The building served as our library until 1976.  — from “Yesterday’s Sarasota The Calendar for 1993” by J. Whitcomb Rylee, in conjunction with the Historical Society of Sarasota County

Historic Chidsey Library

Since then, the building has been Sarasota County’s Historical Resources Center, the Visitor Center, and left vacant. Recently, the Friends of the History Center are keeping it and its exhibits public with the help of volunteers from a dozen or so local historical groups, including, of course, the Historical Society of Sarasota County. It’s, for now at least, the Historical Exhibits and Educational Center located at the Historic Chidsey Library Building.  701 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.

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Have a seat… thanks to philanthropy

HSoSC gets chairs for more seating at our Conversations at the Crocker in Sarasota!

They may not look like much to you, but they’re a dream come true for the Historical Society!

A grant from the Frances T. Bourne Fund at The Community Foundation of Sarasota County has provided for the purchase of chairs to expand our seating capacity in the Crocker Memorial Church (1901) and in the Bidwell-Wood House (1882). More seating for members meetings, for weddings, seminars, music and theatrical rehearsals, for local club meetings and for community-wide events, such as Conversations at The Crocker.

“We have never been able to accommodate as many people as come to our programs. ” said Site Manager Linda Garcia. “We use, of course, the original wooden pews made by early Sarasota settler Peter Crocker and the stackable chairs we already own, but we have had standing-room-only occasions and that led to our submitting a proposal to the Community Foundation. We are so grateful that they acknowledged our need and approved the funds for additional chairs. Our members and the whole community will benefit.”

The Historical Society of Sarasota County Vic-=President Marsha Fottlerworks hard, even in pink shorts!

Our Vice-President, Marsha Fottler, came dressed to work,  the day the chairs arrived via semi!

Besides serving the needs of the Historical Society, the Crocker Memorial Church building is available for rental and is equipped with a sound system, projector, black-out shades and now seating for 150. The historic structure is a popular destination for weddings and other celebratory events. The Historical Society considers the Crocker a model of adaptive use. Since 1901 it has been in constant use, first as a house of worship and now as a place that HSOSC and the Sarasota community use for a variety of programs and events. The Crocker has been preserved by being useful over a long span of time.

Funding for these chairs provided by the Frances T. Bourne Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

 

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What’s your treasure worth?

Expert appraisals at the Collecibles Celebration at the Historical Society of Sarasota County

The Historical Society of Sarasota County is presenting an appraisal clinic on Saturday, November 14, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Crocker Memorial Church, 1260 12th Street, Sarasota. The Crocker Memorial Church is in Pioneer Park one block in from N. Tamiami Trail at 12th Street.

 

People are invited to bring their treasures and have them appraised by certified professionals. The cost is Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Owen… and thanks from all of us!

Owen Burns, courtesy of scgov.net, on HSoSC blogIf you’ve even admired Burns Court, or visited Woman’s Exchange in a building built by Owens to house the local newspaper, or used the Historical Resources archives, much of which was donated by daughter Lillian Burns, or had the pleasure to meet his younger daughter Harriet Burns Stieff who holds a Distinguished Service Award for the Historical Society, you haveOwen Burns, born this day in 1869 in Fredericktown MD,  to thank.

October 31st is Owens Burns’s birthday. Raise a glass to someone who made Sarasota what it is!

“He came to Sarasota in 1910 and was a leader in practically every movement that saw Sarasota grow from a fishing village to one of Florida’s leading resort cities,” the [Herald-Tribune obituary] said in 1937, without hyperbole.

At one point, Burns owned 75% of what is now the City of Sarasota. Who built Cà d’Zan? Owen Burns. Who was a Commodore of the Sarasota Yacht Club? Owen Burns. Who built and named a hotel after his wife… whom he met when she was vacationing in Sarasota? You guessed it.  The influence of Owen Burns on our area cannot be overstated.

Wikipedia on Owen Burns

Video from Sarasota History Alive! about Owen Burns

Influence of Owen Burns on Sarasota FL, by the Historical Society of Sarasota County

Click for a larger version of this map, published in 2011 by owenburns.com

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Historic Treasures Lost and Preserved by Jeff LaHurd: Conversation at the Crocker

One of the threads that ties old Sarasota County to the new is the continuing struggle concerning which historical buildings and properties should be preserved and which ones demolished as a necessary sacrifice to progress, modernization and growth. Award-winning author and historian Jeff LaHurd considers both sides of the issue when he Continue reading →

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LeBarge, John McCarthy, and History: The Perfect Sunday

If you’ve never been on an Historical Society of Sarasota County Cruise, you need to. If you’ve been before, you know you need to experience it again!

On November 1, we’ll board, enjoy a little breakfast snack buffet, and marvel at the depth and breadth of John McCarthy’s knowledge of our area. We may cruise north, towards Ca d’Zan, or we may cruise south towards the marvelous bird sanctuaries. It all depends on the weather and our captain. But it will be bliss, I promise you!

UPDATE 10-18-15 SOLD OUT. We will be doing a Spring Cruise in early March, please email our office to receive advance notice when reservations open for that cruise.

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Miakka? Myakka? Learn which when and why at Conversation at the Crocker.

Conversations at The Crocker Opens 4th Season With the Story of the Myakka River

150928 lake myakka blog
The Miakka, the Myakka. It’s more than a river as Historical Society members and guests will discover during the season opener of Conversations at The Crocker on Tuesday, October 13 starting at 7 p.m. at the Crocker Memorial Church.
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Retired New College director of environmental sciences Jono Miller will lead a conversation on the topic “Myakka, More Than a River,” as he engages in conversation experts John McCarthy, Paula Benshoff and Chris Oliver. In addition, the 14-minute film “Moods of the Miakka” will be shown and discussed.
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Conversations are free to all HSOSC members and students. Guests, $10, payable at the door. There will be a members-only reception prior to the Conversation on the back porch of the Bidwell-Wood House starting at 5:30 p.m.  For more information, contact Linda Garcia, Site Manager, (941) 364-9076.
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This season’s Conversations. Save the dates!

Tuesday, October 13: Myakka, More Than A River. Jono Miller, John McCarthy, Chris Oliver and Paula Benshoff. Also the 14-minute film “Moods of Miakka.”
Tuesday, November 10: Sarasota Treasures Lost & Preserved. Jeff LaHurd.
Tuesday, January 12: A Fantastic Flock, the history of birds and birding on the Gulf Coast. Presentation by Jean Dubi of Audubon Society.
Tuesday, February 9: The Great Developers Past & Present. Harold Bubil.
Tuesday, March 8: Fascinating Florida. Janet Snyder Mathews and Marion Almay.
Tuesday, April 12: Historical Perspectives Through Local Museums. Curators from small specialty museums talk about the challenges and joys of preserving the history, culture and artifacts of past times.

Our complete Calendar of Events.

Photo Credit: B. Paul Patterson on http://www.sarasota.wateratlas.usf.edu/