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Home • Historic Designations • Historic Markers • Journals of Yesteryear • Tales of Sarasota • Get Involved • Bertha Palmer 2010

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Discover Sarasota - Visitor Information

Where To Stay

Kick-back and indulge yourself at a four-star resort, or hide away at a quaint Gulf-side inn when you visit Sarasota. Fascinating local history meets today's good times when you visit Sarasota.
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Dining & Nightlife

Many of Sarasota's historical areas have unique restaurants and entertainment venues nestled nearby for your pleasure. Phenomenally tasty meals, lively jazz spots, monthly gallery strolls, opera, theatre, celebrity performances, and a vast array of ongoing entertainment awaits you throughout your stay.
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Things To Do

Whether you choose a self-guided walking tour, trolley or boat tour of historical sights in Sarasota, you will find many venues to suit your taste. While here, be sure to go to Pioneer Park and check out the restoration progress of the Bidwell-Wood House and Crocker Church after their nationally televised move across town.
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Stories by Jeff LaHurd

A Sarasota Romance

Nearly a century ago, two lovers built a grand castle on the island we know as Bird Key.

Journals of Yesteryear

City Waterworks Building

Imagine the delight with which today's government officials would receive news of the unanimous approval of a bond issue for public improvements. Such was the case in January 1925, when a $150,000 bond issue for the improvement and extension of the City of Sarasota's water system was approved by Sarasota voters. Part of this funding was used to construct the City Waterworks Building, set back from the northwest corner of Orange Avenue and 10th Street at 1015 North Orange Avenue.

Historic Designation

El Vernona Apartments/Belle Haven Apartments

This three-story, "L" - shaped plan, stucco and cast stone Mediterranean Revival building was designed by Dwight James Baum as the Broadway or El Vernona Apartments. Today it is commonly known as the Belle Haven. The reinforced concrete and hollow-tile construction complex was built by Ricketts and Haworth, owned by the Burns Realty Company and opened for occupancy in March of 1926. The construction permit was issued for the complex by the end of October 1925 and construction materials were received by the contracting firm by December of the same year. By March 1926 the 55room complex of twenty furnished apartments was ready for occupancy and the total cost of the complex was $250,000.