Selby Gardens at Spanish Point in Osprey, Florida

We visited Spanish Point today, which is on the National Register of Historic places, and an interactive outdoor museum. It is referred to as "One of the largest intact actively preserved archaeological sites of the prehistoric period on the gulf coast of Florida." Read more about it's interesting history here.

The main photo I've added is of a shell aqueduct which was added by Mrs. Bertha Palmer, who bought the Spanish Point property in 1911. She was a businesswoman, socialite and philanthropist. At one time she owned 140,000 acres in Sarasota and developed 10,000 acres of it by building a canal system to drain the marshes. Then on the drained land she built 10-20 acre farms!  She also developed many other areas which are now parks we visit like Myakka River State Park - we took fellow blipper rower2012 here when he came to visit us all the way from Australia! But, the 30 acres at Spanish Point was Mrs Palmer's favorite and she made it her winter residence. Today we walked through the gardens she created as well as learned about the archeological site. 

The aqueduct is my favorite part of this outdoor Museum. I have taken many photos of it, on this visit and previous ones! I have included extra photos so you can view more details of this unusual aqueduct. We also loved visiting the Butterfly house and enjoyed the views of Little Sarasota Bay.

Wrapping this up, Historic Spanish Point was described in an article by Lauren Jackson like this: "The charm and appeal of Historic Spanish Point can be easily summed up in four P’s — Prehistoric, Pioneers, Palmer, and Plants. Nestled far back off Tamiami Trail in sleepy Osprey lies a verdant oasis rich with history. The 30 acre parcel of waterfront land has been inhabited by humans since 300 A.D."