Author: Porter

Categories
Real Estate

Making History On Anna Maria Island

Moving a Historical Building

The north part of Anna Maria Island underwent major remodeling as a couple of large construction projects dominated the landscape in mid May. The most unusual project was the relocation of the historical Angler’s Lodge, which had sat on North Bay Boulevard for 97 years.

On May 23, a temporary steel bridge was built across Lake LaVista inlet, in order to move the 150-ton lodge to an empty lot on the other side of the water. The ultimate destination, the Historic Green Village on Pine Avenue, was to be reached the following day. The original plan was to start building the bridge by 7 am, and have the house moved across the water by noon. Not surprisingly, it took far longer … most of the day. This gave curious onlookers plenty of time to watch. The adjacent humpback bridge was filled with people all day.Anna Maria City Anglers Lodge moved

Thelma by the Sea moved across Anna Maria CityThe Angler’s Lodge was built in 1913. Until 1950, the building was called “Thelma by the Sea.” Thelma was the name of the daughter of the builder, Mr. R. J. Wood. In the 1940s, the second floor was added, and soon after, the building was called Angler’s Lodge.

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Community

What Car to Buy Now

An island friend has been telling me for several years that she is about to buy a new car. Meanwhile, she is driving the old sedan passed down from her father. She tried to sell it at a yard sale several years ago, but, since it did not sell, she has gotten several more years of good use from it, as she has tried to make up her mind about what new car to buy. Why can’t she decide what make and model to buy?

The thing is, the old sedan has a lot of things going for it. Many new car models do not stack up to it as well as one might think … especially in light of the special circumstances that exist on an island. For one thing, salt and high humidity are tough on an automobile. There is something nice about having a car that is so old that there is no concern about watching it deteriorate. It’s not a big investment or a status symbol.

What car to buy nowOn an island such as Anna Maria Island, many people live without having to travel far. Although it is a popular destination with tourists, the island has not given up all the resident-oriented businesses that make it possible to get just about anything one needs without crossing the bridge to the ‘city’. The streets are two-lane and the speed limits are low. It doesn’t make much difference what one drives around here, unless one wants to participate in a parade. Other than that, any old sedan will do.

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Categories
Tourism

Anna Maria Island City Pier Turns 100

On May 13 and 14, the City of Anna Maria is throwing a party to mark the 100-year birthday of the much-loved City Pier. As soon as the festivities are over, an extensive face-lift operation will transform the waterfront and pier entrance in a way that is intended to make the pier even more accessible and attractive to tourists than it is in its current simple state.

Such a marketing effort is in line with the origins of the pier, which was built in 1911 by the founding Bean family, in order to bring rich tourists to the new town of Anna Maria via steamer. The 776-foot-length of the pier was necessary to reach the deep waters needed by large boats.

Anna Maria Island City Pier Centennial
In her book The Early Days 1893 – 1940, Carolyne Norwood, of the Anna Maria Island Historical Society, explains that George Emerson Bean, his son Will, and their associates had formed the Anna Maria Beach Development Company. They had built 60 homes, a hotel, bathing pavilion, bathhouse, church, school, post office and several stores, in just a few years. Now they wanted to generate some business. After the pier was built, the whole family went to great lengths to entertain those who arrived by boat. Bean’s 10-year-old daughter cruised around the steamers in a little red boat, greeting visitors. Another family member dressed up and told fortunes. A gift shop was opened at the foot of the pier.

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Community Tourism

Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival

Anna Maria Island is enriched by the wide range of very different communities that surround it. Perhaps the most colorful and unusual of these is the working fishing village of Cortez, immediately across the bridge from Bradenton Beach, on the southwest side of Bradenton. Cortez is full of extremely picturesque cottages where real life still goes on. In many parts of the country, these kinds of communities have become sterile tourist attractions, and no longer authentic, but Cortez still works hard to maintain its traditions and meaningful activities, and the residents still work in the local fishing industry.

For these reasons, Cortez is always a wonderful place to visit, and to celebrate. Cortez working fishing villageBut the Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival is a time when the festivities are in full swing. This year, the Twenty Ninth Annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival takes place on February 19 and 20.

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Categories
Arts

‘Offshore’ Depicts Pristine Beaches From the Water

The Studio at Gulf and Pine, in Anna Maria, is presenting “Offshore,” the latest paintings of Holmes Beach artist Maro Lorimer, from January 14 through February 3, 2011. Having previously painted intimate beach paths and expansive beaches, Lorimer now has moved her imaginary observation point out to sea for these acrylic paintings on canvas. Her abstract suggestions of unspoiled shorelines and marine wildlife are inspired by the beauty of the Gulf as well as by memories from many years of windsurfing and boating in places ranging from the Outer Banks to New Zealand.

Offshore at the Studio

Lorimer already had finished several of these paintings, and given them the name, “Offshore,” when the BP oil well exploded. “It was eerie to me that I had been painting pristine beaches right before our beaches were so threatened by the spreading oil,” Lorimer explains. “I continued painting, with increased appreciation of unspoiled places, which we might have taken more for granted in the past. Every time I saw a sea bird or dolphin last summer, I worried about it, afraid we might lose it if the oil came this far.”

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