Test Your Manatee IQ
Carl Nudi is one of my favorite clients and he has written an excellent quiz to test your Manatee County knowledge. Carl works for the Bradenton Herald to which I credit this quiz.
So if you are thinking of owning real estate in Bradenton, Florida it might be a good idea to brush up on the local history. See how well you do with this quiz.
So if you are thinking of owning real estate in Bradenton, Florida it might be a good idea to brush up on the local history. See how well you do with this quiz.2. What is the largest municipality in area and population in the county? a) Palmetto b) Lakewood Ranch c) Bradenton d) Samoset
3. The Town of Longboat Key is in what county? a) Manatee County b) Sarasota County c) Both, Manatee and Sarasota counties d) None of the above
4. What favorite morning drink is processed in Bradenton and sold throughout the United States? a) The Palmetto Bug Cocktail b) Guava juice c) Madam Joe's Coffee d) Tropicana OJ
5. Where in the county can you find the ruins of a 19th-century "castle"? a) In the middle of Braden Castle mobile home park b) Next to the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus c) On tap at Fisherman Joe's d) Who cares?
6. What architectural style dominates the county landscape? a) Mediterranean Revival b) Samoset Gothic c) Cracker Box d) Bauhaus Modern
7. How many local high schools have won state football championships? a) None b) Three c) Six d) They play high school football here?
8. What did the federal government designate as the landing spot of the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto when he began his expedition through the southeastern United States in 1539? a) Shaw's Point b) Beer Can Island c) Near Piney Point d) Charlotte Harbor
9. What are old-timers referring to when they talk about the Singing River? a) A nightclub review starring Joan Rivers b) The legend of the love story between an Indian maiden and a young brave c) The sound certain fish make in the upper part of the Manatee River d) The name of a riverboat that features a barbershop quartet
10. What do these four professional athletes have in common: Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova, Paula Creamer and Jim Courier? a) They all trained at IMG Academies on 34th Street West b) They all played professional tennis c) They all graduated from Manatee High School d) They all worked the night shift at Wellcraft Marine boatworks before they became athletes
BONUS QUESTION: What was University Parkway called before its name changed? a) Pat Neal Boulevard b) Raceway Road c) Swamp Fever Street d) County Line Road
The answers
1. b. The early Spanish fishermen named the river Manati, the Spanish word for the gentle sea cows that swim in the river, and one of the earliest settlements along the river was called Manatee Springs. According to historians, most people in Tampa referred to the area south of them as Manatee, so when the Legislature separated Manatee County from Hillsborough County in 1855 it was a natural. By the way, Snooty, the oldest manatee in captivity, lives in the Parker Aquarium at the South Florida Museum, 201 10th St. W., Bradenton.
2. c. Bradenton is the largest of the six municipalities in the county with 54,409 people living in a 14.82-square-mile area. Palmetto is the second largest, followed by Holmes Beach, Longboat Key, Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach. Samoset is a neighborhood along 15th Street East, south of 30th Avenue East, and Lakewood Ranch is a massive development east of Interstate 75.
3. c. Longboat Key is only one of three municipalities in Florida that straddle two counties, in this case Manatee and Sarasota. The dividing line splits the town almost exactly in half.
4. d. Tropicana produces the national favorite at its large plant that runs for about a mile between Ninth and 15th streets east in Bradenton. As the largest purchaser of Florida oranges, Tropicana processes tons of citrus each year, and during the warm, spring evenings you can smell the sweet fragrance of jobs - about 1,600.
5. a. What was once the home of Dr. Joseph Addison Braden, the Braden Castle ruins are surrounded by the mobile home park, which is on the north side of State Road 64 East. The 198 tiny home sites make up the Braden Castle Park Historic District. Dr. Braden, after whom Bradenton was named, was a sugar plantation owner in the early 19th century. The castle is in ruins now, but when it was constructed in the 1840s, the home was quite impressive. It was two stories tall, windows were at least 8 feet high and 3 or 4 feet wide, and there were four large rooms, four chimneys and eight fireplaces. Braden and his family didn't abandon it until the mid-1860s, when Union soldiers destroyed his sugar mill and freed his slaves. A fire severely damaged the castle in 1903.
By the way, the castle-looking mansion next to the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus is the Powel Crosley estate, Seagate.
6. a. The building boom of the last 20 years has revived this style, and many of the developments have adopted it as the style du jour. Bradenton Herald columnist Joan Altabe credits the Mediterranean Revival style to Addison Mizner with his design of the Everglades Club in Palm Beach in the 1920s. "Mediterranean Revival, called 'Spanish Boom' in the Roaring Twenties, originated as an opulent style to reflect the prosperity and flamboyance of the age. It was used mainly for luxury hotels," Altabe wrote. In a criticism of the overzealous use of the style, she said, architects are "making obvious attempts to soften the blow of concrete block with Mediterranean froufrou. This is done so habitually that it's become humdrum before our eyes."
7. b. Anyone who has been in Manatee County on a Friday night during the fall knows this is a high school football town. Palmetto High School was the first to capture a state championship in 1975. Our oldest high school, Manatee, came home with the trophy four times, first in 1983, then again in 1985, 1989 and 1992. Southeast High School earned its first state title in 1993 and repeated as champs the following year.
8. a. Shaw's Point, site of DeSoto National Memorial Park, was designated in 1939 by the federally appointed Swanton Commission as the "most appropriate location" for the site of DeSoto's landing on the Gulf Coast on May 30, 1539. The commission settled a fight with the city of Port Charlotte for the claiming rights to the landing spot to help boost tourism. With the designation and the establishment of the national memorial, county leaders organized the first De Soto Days Festival in 1940. Since then, the festival has become a nationally known, monthlong event, drawing an estimated 180,000 to 200,000 to the Grand Parade in April.
But you deserve a half-point if you answered c) Piney Point, because archaeologists have found evidence that shows the Indian encampment of Camp Uzita on the northern side of the Little Manatee River where it enters Tampa Bay. Records of the expeditions, called "The Chronicles," describe how DeSoto unloaded his horses and supplies at a site similar to Piney Point, then marched to Camp Uzita.
9. b. The late county historian Joe Warner attributed this legend of a melodic sound encircling the two lovers as they secretively embraced on the banks of the river to Joseph Simpson, who wrote "History of Manatee County" in 1915. Simpson wrote, "This beautiful legend had been handed down from one Indian tribe to another from generation to generation, for 200 years or more . . ." Warner published in 1986 an historical account of the Manatee River titled "The Singing River."
Again, you can give yourself a half-point if you said c), because local lore tells of how one can hear fish making a noise at various locations along the river.
10. a. Although Manatee County has produced many fine athletes, such as Tommie Frazier and Lastings Milledge, many world-class professionals trained at IMG Academies. Nick Bollettieri opened a tennis academy with Mike DePalmer in 1977 at a Manatee Avenue motel. Four years later, Bollettieri purchased acreage on 34th Street West, where he established the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. IMG, a Cleveland-based sport talent and marketing agency, purchased the tennis school in 2004 and expanded its training to include golf, soccer, basketball and other sports. Agassi, Sharapova and Courier all went on to be tennis champs, while golfer Creamer played in the Women's British Open last August on The Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Although none of them went to Manatee High School, Courier graduated from St. Stephen's.
Bonus question d. County Line Road had its name changed to University Parkway in March 1983. But the street could have been named, in part, after Pat Neal, because his University Park Country Club was one of the first developments to spring up off the major dual-county artery.
How'd you do?
If you got 0-2 right, you either just got off the bus, or you're not into quizzes.
If you knew the answer to 3 to 6 of these questions, then you paid attention during your Florida history class.
If you answered between 7 and 10 correct and didn't look over your partner's shoulder, then you're a real Florida Cracker.
If you didn't miss any, then you must've written this quiz.
With Credit to Carl Nudi and the Bradenton Herald