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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From Sarasota History Alive: Powel Crosley was a promoter, businessman and industrialist who had the knack of transforming ideas into reality. Between 1900 and 1940, in the field of radio, Crosley generated the
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Sunday, February 23, 2025, 2-4 p.m.
Crocker Memorial Church for a Conversation at The Crocker
Norm Luppino will be our speaker at the February 23 Conversation at the Crocker, and he’ll be presenting on the Seagate estate, built by Powel Crosley, a man not as well-known in our area as he should be.
From Sarasota History Alive: Powel Crosley was a promoter, businessman and industrialist who had the knack of transforming ideas into reality. Between 1900 and 1940, in the field of radio, Crosley generated the
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Presented by actor/real estate expert Tom Aposporos and organized
by the Historical Society of Sarasota County
A Conversation about architecture and historic homes in Sarasota that link to one of our most influential architects, Ralph Twitchell (1890-1978). Presenter Tom Aposporos charts the early career of Twitchell, who came to Sarasota in 1925 to manage the final stages of Ca d’Zan for Dwight Baum. Twitchell stayed to become architect and contractor of a collection of Mediterranean Revival homes, many of which remain preserved today as icons of a specific style.
Later in his career Twitchell became the bridge from Mediterranean Revival to the modern. When he hired the young Paul Rudolph, the collaboration embraced new materials, a new look and a new way of building with glass and reinforced concrete. Some say the culmination of Twitchell’s move to modernism reached its zenith with
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Our February 18, 2024 Conversation at the Crocker will be all about the ladies. (Note: Emma Booker has graciously declined; Bertha Palmer has graciously agreed to take her place.) Hope to see you there!
Presenting will be three Board members: author-educator Dr. Frank Cassell, actor-playwright Kathryn Chesley and archivist-historian Deborah Walk.
Sunday, February 18 at the Crocker Memorial Church (1260 12th Street in Pioneer Park) at 2 p.m. As always, this Conversation is free to members of HSOSC and $10 at the door for guests.
Curious abut the history and development of Pinecraft? It’s an unusual neighborhood in Sarasota, first settled by Mennonites in the 1920s. Many Mennonites still live there. As a religious group Mennonites are members of a small denomination, with some 300,000 members in the United States. Sarasota’s Mennonite community is composed of about 2,000 regular worshippers in the summer and twice that during the Pinecraft season.
Pinecraft has about 500 tiny homes in a planned grid at the intersection of Beneva Road and Bahia Vista Street. The bustling neighborhood is home to many authentic restaurants and is a popular destination for snow-bird Amish as well as Mennonites escaping the harsh winters of the midwest. Find out why the commuity exists, and how it came to be.
J.B. Miller is an authority on the history of the Mennonite community in Sarasota and on the history and development of Pinecraft. We are pleased to host this expert on Sunday, January 14 at 2 p.m. at the Historical Society’s Crocker Memorial Church at 1260 12th Street, between Tamiami Trail and Cocoanut Avenue in Pioneer Park, Sarasota.
Every year about this time, the Historical Society has a pleasant “Welcome Back” get-together on the back porch of the Bidwell-Wood House before the first Conversation at the Crocker*. It’s to welcome back members to our new season, of course, but it’s also to “Welcome for the First Time” those residents who spend the summer Up North and new Sarasotans.
The Sunday October 15 2023 Conversation* is in tune with
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A Sarasota History 101 presentation by Jon Stone kicks off a season of special events and programming organized by HSOSC at the historic Crocker Memorial Church
When Jon Stone retired from his long career as a Sarasota-based architect, he found he had the free time to indulge his passion for history. From the time he was a schoolboy in Sarasota, Jon has been fascinated by local history and he began collecting items from the past — maps, post cards, photos — things that could bring him closer to understanding how people lived, worked, traveled, and spent their time long ago.
Jon joined the board at HSOSC and is currently Treasurer, head of the Finance Committee and a member of Buildings and Grounds committee. He’s found like-minded, history-loving people at HSOSC and he’s found members that can help with his research questions as well as people who are eager to engage in long conversations about history.
Over the past few months Jon Stone has put together a Sarasota History 101 presentation that he will share on October 15 at 2:45 p.m. at the Crocker Memorial Church. This event kicks off our HSOSC season of special events and public inter-active programming that illuminate people, places and happenings that have shaped Sarasota. Conversations at The Crocker is now in its second decade and a tradition at HSOSC.
Before Jon’s presentation, there will be a Welcome Back Reception on the back porch of the Bidwell-Wood House starting at 2 p.m. However, HSOSC will open its doors at 1:30 for those who’d like a tour of the Bidwell-Wood House or for those who just want a prime parking spot. Hope to see all you friends of history there.
Conversation at the Crocker: A Sarasota History 101 with Jon Stone
1260 12th Street, Sarasota (Pioneer Park)
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Jon Stone presentation of Sarasota History 101 starts at 2:45.
Welcome Back Wine & Cheese Reception on the back porch of the Bidwell-Wood House 2:00 p.m.
Doors open at 1:30 for those who would like a tour of the Bidwell-Wood House.
Members, free; Guests, $10 at the door.
We stacked up 32 bags during our few hours’ work on Saturday and they were all picked up on Monday! There will be a wedding in the Crocker Memorial Church on Saturday, so we made an all-hands-on-deck effort to clear out the storm debris. Sue Padden is working on the flower boxes on the front porch. What a CREW and what great work we accomplished. Thanks so much. Linda
We’re so excited about the October 11 2022 Conversation at the Crocker coming up as a kick-off to our 2022-2023 season.
Our speaker will be Dr. Josh Goodman, Sarasota County’s new
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The Board of Directors has announced our new Calendar for the upcoming 2022-2023 year at HSoSC. While there are still some events awaiting confirmation, you can plan on these events. See you there!
Yes, the Historical Society is holding events in March. And not only are you welcome, you’re encouraged to attend! Come as you are. The only event requiring pre-registration is the Historical Bay Cruise, so check with Linda Garcia, our Site Manager, to see if space is still available on Le Barge. Other events, walk-ins welcome; admission fees (if any) noted, and of course, you are welcome to come masked.
Wednesday March 2, 2022: History Is Fun. In the Crocker Memorial Church at 2 p.m. Free for members, $10 for those who haven’t gotten around to becoming members yet. It’s the last of this season’s presentations, and we’re welcoming the Sarasota County Historical Resources folks. They’re the people who guard and catalog our county’s past, from mastodon bones to Bertha Palmer’s rowing machine. Come learn, come ask, come get acquainted with Historical Resources.
Sunday March 6, 2022: Historical Sarasota Bay Cruise. Our favorite narrator, John McCarthy, takes the mic on Le Barge as you glade on Sarasota Bay. Watch history unfold before your eyes. Sip a beverage, nibble on snacks and enjoy the open air and gentle breezes. The boat leaves from Marina Jack at 11 a.m. (loading at 10:30!) and returns around 1 p.m. This is the boat ride you will always remember. There are still some tickets left at the time of writing. $75 per person. Call HSoSC Site Manager, Linda Garcia, at 941-364-9076 for availability.
Tuesday March 8, 2022: Conversations at The Crocker. 7 p.m in the Crocker Memorial Church. The Crocker Church, Lost And Found Years. A fresh look at the revised history of the Crocker Memorial Church. Read more. Presenters are Deborah Walk, Jon Stone and Betsy Lingenheld, board members at HSoSC. Docent tours of the Bidwell-Wood House are available at 6 p.mbefore the show. Free to members; $10 at the door for guests.
Sunday March 20, 2022: Sunday Afternoon Social: 2 p.m. in the Crocker Memorial Church. The Last Lustron. Tom McArdle is a board member at the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation and owner of the last Lustron, a piece of post WWII Americana, in Sarasota. Read about these unusual homes here. Refreshments included in this relaxed, cafe-style event. $5 for members and $10 for guests at the door.
Exercise your
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EDIT Feb. 25 2022 Originally schedued for January, we’re happy to be able to present this event on Tuesday March 8 2022 at 7pm. Bookmark our Events Page where you will find the most up-to-date info on gatherings at HSoSC.
This Conversation at The Crocker is an information-rich celebration of the recent project undertaken by HSoSC and the community to rescue the historic Crocker Memorial Church. Three HSoSC board members will present an illustrated three-part program.
Deborah Walk, a professional archivist, writer and former curator of the Ringling Museum of the Circus, will trace the far-back history of a humble wooden worship center that started out with property deeded to Peter Crocker in 1901. She will also talk about the Crocker family, which attempted to establish a named settlement in Sarasota that could have grown into a town except for the death of its namesake.
Jon Stone, a retired architect and avid researcher, will discuss how adaptive re-use has saved this building and made it into a welcoming place for the community to come for public programming organized by the HSOSC, meetings, weddings, memorial services, art classes, musical recitals, play rehearsals and much more. Adaptive re-use for the Crocker started in the 1980s when preservationist Veronica Morgan owned the Crocker. It was located in the Rosemary district at the time. Jon will also discuss how the Crocker and the Bidwell-Wood House came to be curated by our Historical Society.
Betsy Lingenheld will talk about the engineering-construction rescue mission that saved the entire west side of the building. A contractor who has specialized in preservation work, Betsy came to the Historical Society as a member a few years ago and subsequently agreed to join the advisory board and then the board of directors to be the project manager of the huge rescue project, which got started around the time that COVID did. She will talk about the special challenges in working on a historically designated building.
After the three speak, there will be time for audience input with a question and answer segment.
—Submitted by Marsha Fottler
For our complete Calendar of Events, please visit our Events Page.
To mark the county centennial, the filmed reading of “The Roads We Traveled to Sarasota County“, written and produced by our own Kathryn Chesley will be presented. This November 2021 Conversation at the Crocker is eagerly awaited by members (free) and not-yet- members ($10) alike.
A Welcome Back Party on the Back Porch begins at 6 pm, the program starts at 7 pm, and we hope to see you there!
News of our new afternoon event on Weds. Dec. 1, “History is FUN!”, will be available as well. “The Past Inspires the Arts” with spotlight guest artist Marlane Wurzbach will our first presentation.
The Historical Society of Sarasota County 