Florida Maritime Museum

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Cortez was settled by fishing families from North Carolina and has worked the water ever since, which makes it one of the last surviving commercial fishing villages on this coast rather than a former one. The Cortez Rural Graded Schoolhouse was built in 1912 for seven thousand seven hundred and forty-six dollars and seventy-one cents and taught the village's children until 1961, when they were moved to Palma Sola Elementary. The building then passed through other uses, including the county art league and a private home, before the community pressed the county to buy it in 1998, with the surrounding land added in 1999. Restoration began in 2005 and the museum opened in 2007 to collect and share the knowledge, objects and personal accounts of Florida's fishing and maritime life. It is run by the Historical Resources department of the Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court. The building is currently closed for structural repair, though programs continue; telephone 941-708-6120 before making the trip