Anna Maria Island

This article is about the entire island. For the City of Anna Maria on the north end of the island, see Anna Maria, Florida.
Anna Maria Island
Geography
Location Manatee County, Florida
Coordinates 27°30′47″N 82°43′08″W / 27.513°N 82.719°W / 27.513; -82.719Coordinates: 27°30′47″N 82°43′08″W / 27.513°N 82.719°W / 27.513; -82.719
Length 7 mi (11 km)
Width 2 mi (3 km)
Highest elevation 5 ft (1.5 m)
Administration
United States
Anna Maria Island
Location in the United States
Anna Maria Island
Location in Florida

Anna Maria Island, sometimes called Anna Maria Key, is a barrier island on the coast of Manatee County, Florida in the United States. The island is named after Anna Maria Ceravolo. It is bounded on the west by the Gulf of Mexico, on the south by Longboat Pass (which separates it from Longboat Key), on the east by Anna Maria Sound, and on the north by Tampa Bay. Anna Maria Island is approximately seven miles long north to south. Anna Maria Island is at latitude 27.513N, longitude -82.719W. A nautical chart of the island and surrounding waters may be seen at http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11425.shtml

History

Anna Maria Island was discovered by the local Timucan and Caloosan American Indian tribes and, later, by Spanish explorers (including Hernando de Soto) in the name of the Spanish Crown. Hernando de Soto and his crew entered the mouth of Tampa Bay, north of Anna Maria Island, in May, 1539, passing it by to make their landfall on the mainland.

Anna Maria Island was first settled in the beginning of the twentieth century by Tampa Mayor Madison Post who then named the island for his wife Maria and his sister-in-law Anna. As Cuban fishermen were the first visitors to the island at the southern mouth of Tampa Bay, settlement was very soon dominated by nautical types [13].

In 1892, George Emerson Bean became the first permanent resident on the Island, homesteading much of what is now the City of Anna Maria. After Bean's death in 1898, the land's ownership transferred to his son, George Wilhelm Bean, who partnered with Charles Roser, a wealthy real estate developer from St. Petersburg, to form the Anna Maria Beach Company in order to develop the area. The company laid out streets, built sidewalks and houses, and installed a water system.[1]

The first bridge that was built to connect Anna Maria Island to mainland Florida began construction in the summer of 1921. A substantial heavy storm wiped out half the bridge but the bridge survived the storm and construction was able to continue. The bridge was finished as scheduled in 1922. The bridge crossed the bay to what now is Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach to the fishing town of Cortez. With the bridge being built, more people began to visit the island and it began to catch the interest of several business men [14].

Now fast forwarding to almost a century, Anna Maria Island has become one of the most popular visited locations in Florida by both locals and tourists. Its wild life and nature has attracted many scholars of different sciences such as biology, and marine biology.

Name origin

Ponce de Leon was said to have named the island for Maria Anna von der Pfalz-Neuburg, the queen of Charles II of Spain, the sponsor of his expedition. In the past, pronunciation of the name differed: old timers said "Anna Mar-EYE-a," but most people today say "Anna Mar-EE-a.".[2]

Municipalities

Anna Maria Island today is divided into the three cities of Anna Maria in the north, Holmes Beach in the middle, and Bradenton Beach in the south. In 2005 the United States Census Bureau estimated the combined population of the three cities at approximately 8,500.

Transportation

The main north-south road on the island is Gulf Drive, which begins on the south end of the island at the foot of the Longboat Pass Bridge from Longboat Key. Gulf Drive is the only road that runs the entire length of the island. It is State Road 789 south of Manatee Avenue in Holmes Beach and County Road 789 north of there.

There are two bridges across Sarasota Bay from the mainland: the Cortez Bridge, which brings State Road 684 into Bradenton Beach from Cortez, and the Manatee Avenue Bridge, which brings State Road 64 into Holmes Beach from the Palma Sola section of Bradenton.

Anna Maria Island is served by a free trolley-style bus that runs north and south on Gulf Drive. The trolley connects with both the MCAT (Manatee County Area Transit) system serving the greater Bradenton area, and the SCAT (Sarasota County Area Transit) system. The MCAT connects to the trolley at Manatee Public Beach, at the intersection of State Road 789 and State Road 64.[3] The SCAT connects to the trolley at Coquina Beach, at the south end of Anna Maria Island, just before the Longboat Key Bridge.[4] Several local taxi companies serve Anna Maria Island.

Anna Maria Island was only accessible by boat until 1921, when the wooden Cortez Bridge was constructed from the fishing village of Cortez to what is now Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach. The remaining parts of the Cortez Bridge are used as a fishing pier.[5]

Tourism

With its white sandy beaches and warm temperatures, for many years Anna Maria Island was considered a "hidden gem," the sleepy island providing a rare slice of "Old Florida."[6] In the past decade, tourism development has been targeted as a key economic goal by island, county and state officials[7] and millions of tax dollars have been invested to draw visitors to the island with national and international advertising and publicity efforts.[8] This success has not been without its downsides of congested traffic, noise, litter and parking complaints during peak tourist seasons.[9] This influx of visitors has prompted developers to shift many of the original 1950s- and '60-era houses into large multi-family rental units, a subject of local controversy.[10]

Wildlife

From May through October in Florida, sea turtles come ashore to nest. Anna Maria Island is one of the many places in Florida that sea turtles nest on the beaches.[11] Protection of the sea turtles is an important aspect of the island culture, and information and training is available for tourists and locals. The entire island is a bird sanctuary, and pelicans, multiple types of cranes and herons, wild parrots, sand pipers, osprey, hawks, vultures, seagulls, and crows share the island with humans along with a nesting pair of bald eagles. Bottlenose dolphins can be observed both in the Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf and you may see manatee cruising the beach or inhabiting Bimini Bay.

The sun rises over Tampa Bay. Anna Maria, FL.

In film and video

In 1938 Siam Garden Resort began a fish camp and in 1948, MGM brought Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban, Jimmy Durante, Cyd Charisse, and Xavier Cugat to Anna Maria Island to film “On an Island with You." In the plot "a beautiful movie star travels to Hawaii and finds romance in this South Seas musical.” Anna Maria Island is featured in the Florida Band Shinedown's video for "Second Chance".

Adjacent islands

Adjacent to Anna Maria Island's bayside is the island of Key Royale, formerly known as School Key. It was uninhabited until 1960, when a bridge was built joining it to the Holmes Beach section of Anna Maria Island and development began. It is included in the city limits of Holmes Beach.[12] Longboat Key lies at the very southern edge of the island, connected by the Gulf Drive drawbridge. Just to the east of the drawbridge lies Jewfish Key.

Gallery

References

13. http://floridahistory.org/annamariaisland.htm

14. http://www.islandreal.com/blog/historical-society-visit-anna-maria/

Anna Maria Island Community http://www.annamariaislandflorida.us

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