Anna
Maria Island Area Historical Sites
Gamble
Plantation State Historic Site
3708 Patten Avenue
Ellenton, FL 34222
The
mansion is the only surviving antebellum plantation house in south Florida
Historic Spanish Point
337 N. Tamiami Trail Osprey, FL 34229
Manatee Village Historical Park
604 15th St. E Bradenton, FL 34208
DeSoto National Memorial
7th St. Bradenton, FL 34209
Site of the 1539 landing of explorer Hernando DeSoto
South Florida Museum
201 10th St. W. Bradenton, FL 34205
Natural and cultural history exhibits include life-sized casts of Ice Age mammals and artifacts from archeological sites in Florida
Anna Maria Island History
The Island was explored around 1530 by Spanish adventurers.
The Timucuan Indians met the Spaniards. Today there is no trace of the Timucuan Indians on Anna Maria Island.
George Emerson Bean was the first permanent resident in 1892. The Old Anna Maria Jail still stands and the Anna Maria Island Museum can be visited next door. The historical Anna Maria City Pier is just a few blocks away. The City Pier belongs to the city of Anna Maria. Built around 1910 before any bridges connected the Island to the mainland, the pier served as the arrival/departure area for visitors and supplies. The Cortez Bridge was completed in 1921 connecting the mainland with the island for the first time. Later the Manatee Avenue Bridge was built giving visitors better access to the island.