Florida Maritime Museum facts for kids
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| Location | 4415 119th Street West Cortez, Florida |
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| Type | Maritime museum |
The Florida Maritime Museum is a cool place to learn about Florida's history with the sea! It's located in the old fishing village of Cortez, Florida, on almost 4 acres of land. This area is known as the Cortez Nature Preserve.
The museum is open Tuesday through Friday, and on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, from 10 AM to 4 PM. It shares many stories about Florida's maritime history, which means everything about boats, fishing, and life on the water.
You can see old photos, tiny boat models, tools, and other cool items from the past. The museum also has a huge collection of shells found in the Gulf of Mexico. Plus, there's a special library with books, old letters, and records about Florida's sea history, especially along the Gulf Coast. The museum is also home to The Folk School, where you can learn traditional Florida maritime skills and folk art.
The main museum building is a schoolhouse built in 1912. Other old buildings on the site include the 1890 Burton/Bratton Store, a wooden cistern, and the 1907 Pillsbury Boatshop.
Contents
What the Museum Does
The Florida Maritime Museum works to find, keep, and share old knowledge, cultural items, and personal stories. These all relate to Florida's fishing and sea heritage.
Historic Buildings and Gardens
The Florida Maritime Museum sits on nearly 4 acres of land. This area includes gardens with native plants, fountains, a chickee hut (a type of open-sided hut), historic buildings, and old maritime objects. You can explore the grounds from morning until night.
The 1912 Cortez Schoolhouse
The Cortez Rural Graded Schoolhouse was built in 1912. It was one of six schools built by Manatee County that year. This school replaced an even older one-room schoolhouse that is still in the village today.
The school first had three rooms: two classrooms and a principal's office. In 1933, a program called the Works Progress Administration helped to make the school bigger. The middle room, which was the principal's office, was made longer into an auditorium with a stage. This made the building look like a "T" shape.
The building was used as a school until 1961. After that, it was rented out to an art school. In 1974, a master weaver named Robert Sailors bought the building. He turned the old classrooms and auditorium into his art studios and home. Sailors lived and worked there until he passed away in 1995.
In 1999, Manatee County bought the property. They carefully fixed up the building. In 2007, it opened again as the Florida Maritime Museum. The Cortez Schoolhouse is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a very important historic site.
Robert Sailors' Gardens
When Robert Sailors bought the Cortez Schoolhouse in 1974, he also created two patios outside. One of these patios has a beautiful water sculpture made of blue ceramic tiles and lead-glass windows. Today, the Florida Maritime Museum still takes care of this water sculpture and other sculptures around the grounds.
The 1890 Burton/Bratton Store
In the 1890s, William C. Bratton built the very first business building in the area. This area was first called Hunter's Point, but later became Cortez. This building was a post office, a general store, and a steamboat dock all in one! It helped connect the fishing families of the village with the outside world.
In 1900, rooms were added to the building, turning it into an inn called the Albion Inn. The Albion Inn grew over time. During the big 1921 Tampa Bay hurricane in 1921, the inn and the 1912 Cortez Schoolhouse helped keep people safe.
The inn closed in 1974 and was sold to the United States Coast Guard. But the community, led by the Cortez Village Historical Society, worked hard to save the store from being torn down in 1991. It was moved to the museum's current location in 2006. After being fixed up, the old store reopened in 2018 as part of the Florida Maritime Museum. Today, it holds museum collections upstairs and offices downstairs.
The Pillsbury Boat Shop
Edward Ithamar Pillsbury started the Snead Island Boat Works on Snead Island in 1907. The Pillsbury Boat Shop was the first building he built there. It was named after his son, Asa Harmon Pillsbury.
As the boat works grew, more buildings were added. The original boat shop was changed to be a machine shop. It held tools for working with metal, like a lathe. Later, in the 1930s, the property was sold. The Pillsburys moved the shop three miles away to their home. There, it was still used as a machine shop to fix their dredging company's equipment.
In 2007, this historic boat shop was moved again! With a sheriff's escort, it traveled from Palmetto, Florida to the Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez.
Anchor of the Steamship 'Mistletoe'
On the museum grounds, you can see the anchor from a steamship called the 'Mistletoe.' This steamship was owned by a fisherman from Tampa, Florida named John Savarese. It regularly carried people and goods from Tampa to Sarasota, Florida. The steamship also stopped in places like Bradenton, Florida and Cortez.
Sadly, the 'Mistletoe' sank in a hurricane in 1910. But soon after, it was pulled up, fixed, and given a new name: 'The City of Sarasota' in 1911. It kept carrying passengers and cargo until 1917. The Pillsbury Boat Works (the same family as the boat shop!) bought the steamship. They used it as a barge for a short time before pulling it ashore and burning it.
Marine Railway Winch
The museum also has a marine railway winch. This machine was used to pull very large boats out of the water. It would move them onto a repair station or a dry-dock (a place where boats can be worked on out of the water).
This winch was used in the local area until the late 1980s. Its last home was the Rivertown Boatworks on the Manatee River in Bradenton.
Museum Collections
The Blake Banks Shell Collection
Captain Blake Banks was a very successful fisherman from Cortez. He loved sea life! His collection of shells and sea creatures is very special because he kept great records about where he found everything. All of his specimens were collected in the Gulf of Mexico.
His wife, Betty, later gave some of his collection to the Florida Maritime Museum. Researchers and volunteers at the museum are working hard to create a map showing where each specimen was found.
Ship Models
Many of the models you see at the Florida Maritime Museum are small versions of real ships. These ships played important roles in Florida's maritime history.
Maritime Library
The Florida Maritime Museum has a small library filled with books about sea-related topics. You can find stories about old Florida, how to build boats, and boat designs. Besides books, the museum also has boat plans, nautical charts (sea maps), and other old materials. These are available for people who want to do research.
The Folk School
The Folk School at the Florida Maritime Museum started in January 2017. It helps the museum share its mission in a hands-on way. Through classes, you can learn and keep alive classic skills. It's also a great way to share stories, build community, and learn to appreciate the history of Cortez and the areas nearby.
See also
