Palmetto Historical Park-Post office 1880

 

The post office 

Palmetto Historical Park  source of this information

 Heritage Station is Palmetto’s first free-standing post office. It was built for Mrs. Mary Nettles, Palmetto’s 2nd and 4th Postmaster, who served 1880-1889 and again 1893-1897. During her service and through the turn of the century, mail destined for Palmetto traveled first by rail to Cedar Key, then 125 miles south by steamer and into the Manatee River to Palmetto.

Each March on Heritage Day, Heritage Station is open for business from 10:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. All mail posted through the antique post office is hand cancelled with a special cancellation used only on that day at this place.

The post office is full of symmetry for symmetry Saturday, and even more when the sun is shining

Heritage Chapel-Palmetto Historical Park

 

Heritage Chapel is available for use for wedding, funerals or services.

The Church is the only building in the Historical Park that is not an original building.

It was built in 1999 as a replica of the first 3 churches in Palmetto.

First Baptist, First Methodist, First Presbyterian combined architecture

First Baptist Church, built in 1892, was the church 6 generations attended. This was one of the models used to build the replica. My cousins still attend First Baptist and have since birth but now the church looks like this.

I would love to see my great grandparents viewing the church today.

The parsonages built in 1931 is across the street from my grandmother's house. 

It was the parsonage until 2014.

church and parsonage google maps.

the house has looked like this my entire life.

Palmetto Historical Park-Landscaping

 

On the grounds of the Historical Park, the landscape is planted with native flowers and plants and to attract butterflies.

this is a link to their YouTube channel with info on flora and fauna.

Rain Barrel

Syrup Kettle for boiling down the sugar cane syrup

Palmetto Historical District, Storefronts

 

Hair Salon

A few storefronts on 8th Ave Historical District on Almost Wordless Wed.

Gary Roberts Architecture

American Traditions, clothing and gifts

Flowers outside American traditions

Close up of D's Burgers Breakfast

Cottage Museum Circa 1900

Cottage Museum, 1900, Palmetto Heritage Park

The cottage is typical of the small family bungalows built across Florida in the early part of the 20th Century and is furnished with vintage items. I could not get a photo through the glass

this style of home is called Cracker House Architecture. the style I love the most. this is an image from Google that shows what the porch on my grandmothers house looked like, She had the front and on on the side and one of the rear. The porches with screens or without were built to shade the windows from the hot Florida sun.

In its simplest form, a Cracker house is a wooden shelter built by the early Florida and Georgia settlers. Lured to Florida by cheap and plentiful land, these pioneers arrived with few provisions and needed to erect shelter quickly and cheaply.

the Cracker comes from the Crack of the whip, which is how they herded the cattle through the swamps of Florida.

Original Wavy Glass in windows and doors

House was moved to the park from the original lot 4 blocks away.

the railings on the school next door is wheelchair access.

Palmetto Historical Park-Agricultural Museum

 

Palmetto Historical Park-Agricultural Museum has its own website, was originally the old firehouse.

Manatee County's top industries are tourism and agriculture. Tomatoes, strawberries and peppers are our highest-grossing crops and vegetable crop production, citrus production, livestock and forage production, ornamental horticulture, the commercial fishing industry, and forest products.

My Aunts husband was a 3rd generation farmer and now my cousins are 4th generation farmers.

They sell tomatoes to Delmonte and Potatoes to Lays Potato Chips

It is TOURISM that keeps us alive and full of people.

I love all the accents everywhere we go.

It is rare to shop and not hear German or French or British English

Saturday shopping trip, there were two handsome young men, to my young is 40ish in the aisle with toothpaste. OF COURSE, both they and their basket were standing exactly in front of the ONE that I wanted, I smiled and said, excuse me, can I reach around you/

My heart melted when in perfect British English, he stepped backwards and said

Sorry, Luv!    

You will not get a Sorry or a Luv from American males. He was probably shocked ant my southern talk of scuse me, since we never say the entire word.

Windmills needed to water the stock.

Every Barn needs a mouser or TWO

Palmetto Historical Park-School House 1920

 

MadSnapper taking photos of inside of school through the windowpanes.

I love the thick wavy glass of the windows and doors and was surprised the photo below came out so well.

Palmetto Historical Park Schoolhouse 1920

Each building is furnished as a museum, and they are open these hours, but I have yet to be there because I am an early bird up at dawn.

TUESDAY - FRIDAY

1ST & 3RD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

10:00AM - 12:00PM

& 1:00PM - 4:00PM

 This kindergarten building was moved onto the Palmetto Elementary School property in 1936. It would serve for many years as Palmetto’s first public kindergarten. Hazel Lewis was the first teacher to serve there. The building stood on the east side of the 800 Block of 9th Avenue beside the high school gymnasium. When the new school was built, Manatee County gave the building to the Palmetto Historical Commission. The building has been restored as a one-room schoolhouse.

Palmetto Historical park (Round about)

A few buildings down from the Restaurant is the Entrance to Palmetto Historical Park and is from this Website

I neglected take one of the entrance

Below are all my photos of the buildings around the circle.

The red brick road is an example of what the streets were in my mothers generation and were there until mid 50's, when they were removed.

Around the circle is the house, post office, schoolhouse, church and barn.

Buildings from 1880 for the post office and the house in the 1920's

My grandmother's house was built in the early 1920's.

Her house had a tin roof, 3 sides were screened porches, tongue/groove boards used on outside, inside and the ceiling. 

The only electrical was each room had a black cord hanging 4 feet down from 12 foot ceilings with a light bulb and a string to turn it on.

the kitchen and the living room had one outlet to plug in anything electric,

Her home was heated with a small gas stove that would only heat the living room, and only one fan, which was a footstool fan, and she OWNED it, by HER chair.

She was the 2nd home from the Manatee River and the house rarely got unbearable with heat or cold.

We can still live without heat/ac in this part of Florida but for me the AC is a necessity.