HISTORY & HERITAGE
Manatee Village Historical Park
Manatee County · Gulf Coast
Fourteen historic buildings gathered on one site at 1404 Manatee Avenue East in Bradenton, free to walk through.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The park opened on July 4, 1976, and is run by the Manatee County Historical Commission. The centerpiece is the Old Manatee County Courthouse of 1860, the oldest wooden courthouse still standing in Florida, and around it the commission has assembled the buildings a nineteenth century settlement needed. The Methodist church dates from 1887, the Wiggins General Store from 1903, Bunker Hill School from 1908 and the Stephens House, built in the cracker gothic style, from 1912. There is a smokehouse and a blacksmith shop. Fogarty Boat Works, established in 1866, represents the river trade the county lived on before roads. A 1913 steam locomotive known as Old Cabbage Head arrived in 2002 and stands on a length of track. Parking on site is free and admission costs nothing, though group tours are charged. School field trips, a traveling trunk on the life of a Civil War soldier, guest speakers and events run through the year
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