You never know what you might find… like this “look back” on Sarasota history, written in 1925!

In the same issue, they remarked on “Old Landmark Doomed”… see if you can guess which, before you click over to the paper…

Or look up the day you were born. The day before I was (not every issue of the paper is available), Sweetheart Soap was 2 cakes for 17 cents, lemons were 25 cents a dozen, and roasting hens were 49 cents a pound.

See the article.

Photo from vintage.es

You’ve received the slate of candidates for the Board of Directors in the mail. You’ve probably already got a favorite pot luck dish to bring, but just in case, dig out the old recipe box, or cookbook, or hie yourself on over to Pinterest …or get this free Kindle book, Our Quirky Pot Luck Recipes

The gardens, thanks to our valued volunteers, are gorgeous. Bring some lawn chairs to enjoy your meal amidst the Florida-friendly plantings.

Oh, and tuck some bucks in your pocket… the Gift Shop’s closing until October, so you will want to stock up on gifts, treats, and crafts enough to get you through the summer.

The pretty recipe box is from artofgiving.com

Directors Ron McCarty and Linda Garcia confer recently with Sarasota City Planner Dr. Clifford Smith over what type of hand rails would be historically appropriate on the Crocker Memorial Church.

The need for rails has been evident since the Church was settled into its current home in Pioneer Park. Raising the building above flood level was imperative, but that left some rather steep and shallow steps to negotiate into the front entry doors. Choosing rails for safety and appropriateness required research into past alterations and discussion to keep the Church looking as historically attuned as possible.

As soon as the city approves the plans decided by Ron and Linda, installation may commence. If you would like to contribute to this safety feature and amenity, that would be helpful! Send your check to HSoSC, 1260 12th Street, Sarasota FL  34236

Don’t forget: if you’d like to lend a hand improving and maintaining our ever-better gardens on site, we’ll be gathering on Saturday morning May 4. If you can join us for an hour or two, we’d love to have you! Details here.
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Calling All Gardeners*

Maybe it’s just $30 for flashlights. Maybe you can strongarm your talented specialist buddy into tuning the organ. Or maybe it’s something in between. Even something as humble as donating paper goods can help us preserve, protect, and polish the Bidwell-Wood House and the Crocker Church in Pioneer Park.

Click for the Wish List.

After you choose what you can fund, let Linda know if you would like to be acknowledged her on the blog, or if you’d rather keep your good works to yourself. And as they say nowadays, TIA (Thanks in Advance!)

The HSOSC herb Garden is near the detached kitchen at the Bidwell-Wood House. In past times (and now) it would have been appropriate to plant an herb and limited vegetable garden near the kitchen for the convenience of the cook. Our garden is mostly for demonstration but this year’s crop of cherry tomatoes is pretty tasty.

After the front-yard garden and the brick pathways were installed at the Bidwell-Wood House (see Florida-friendly plants at the Historical Society) , our members thought it would be educationally useful to build an herb garden near the detached kitchen.

Such a garden would have existed in the late 1800s during the Settlement Period of Sarasota’s history, when the Bidwells built their two-story home. Cooks wanted their herbs and everyday vegetables handy and indeed, today, an herb garden is generally installed near the back door or right outside the lanai for easy harvesting. (Note: the most magnificent kitchen gardens in America are at Monticello).

At the HSOSC garden we now have three pineapple plants growing toward maturity. The plants were donated by HSOSC member and garden volunteer Phil Stevens. Last year our lone pineapple was apprehended and enjoyed by a squirrel before we could harvest it. Better luck to us this year.

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Our herb garden is a raised-bed variety and was built by John Tuccillo with heritage bricks that were salvaged by HSOSC volunteers Pete Esthus, Alec Harding and Phil Stevens when an old Bradenton street was torn up about two years ago. Last year the garden was planted with hardy herbs – rosemary, basil, oregano and such. This year we’ve got some tomato and pepper plants in the mix. The garden is maintained by Carolyn Heath, the owner of the historic Broadway Bar at the corner of 10th and Cocoanut streets. Carolyn is our neighbor, good friend, and a big supporter of HSOSC. She thought it would be fun to have an herb garden that her restaurant chef could use.

In every section of the Bidwell-Wood House garden flowers are in bloom. It’s a great time to visit the property. All of our plants are Florida-friendly and many are natives.

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Various volunteers and our site manager, Linda Garcia, pull weeds, water, prune and encourage the herbs and vegetables. In the dead of summer (July, August and September too) almost nothing in that garden can survive the blazing sun, intense heat and lack of rain. But, right now the herb garden looks about as good as it ever does. It could be better and bigger if we had some volunteers who might like to devote a few hours a week to its improvement and enlargement. If this appeals to you, please contact Linda Garcia via email at hsosc@yahoo.com or call 941-364-9076 Monday-Friday, 10 til 2 and you can start gardening whenever you like!

Crocker Church is all ready to host YOUR event!

Our campus in Pioneer Park has been bustling this past week: visitors and shoppers and even some alumni!

Plein Air painters, city planners, and some pony-tailed guy installing a bird bath. People playing instruments, people discussing books, people having lunch on the Back Porch. Weeders in our herb garden, butterflies all over, and even some folks who were looking for the Manatee Historical Park.

If your group, family, club need a centrally-located, historic, pleasant place for a gathering, and if you want to help us protect, preserve, and polish two of the oldest buildings in Sarasota County, visit our Facility Rentals page, then give us a call!

Did something memorable happen for your family this year? A significant anniversary (well, of course they all are) or birthday? Did you finally make the decision to make Sarasota your home? Was there a wedding, a birth, or, sadly, a loss you’d like to mark?

Commemorate your own personal history with a brick from the historic Seaboard Airline Railroad!

The Historical Society of Sarasota County, led by beloved late member Pete Esthus,  salvaged the bricks from Main Street and Lemon Avenue when the station depot was being demolished.  We have them laid as the walkway into the 1882 Bidwell-Wood House, Sarasota County’s oldest surviving residence, for a lasting memorial.  Each year the new etched bricks are laid on Pioneer Day with a

celebration for new brick owners.

You can honor anyone or any event with an etched historic brick.  A donation of $100 or more creates a permanent reminder of your loved ones and highlights your participation in Sarasota History.

To inscribe a brick for yourself, to honor a family member or commemorate a life milestone in front of this historic home, simply print out this form. If you’d like to charge your donation to MasterCard or VISA, call Linda Garcia, Site Manager, any weekday between 10 and 2 at 941-364-9076. Questions? Call or email us at hsosc@yahoo.com.

A panel of performing arts experts discusses how Sarasota evolved into a thriving performing arts community that attracts both tourists and permanent residents. This Conversation at the Crocker is the seventh in a series of year-long panel discussions organized and produced by the Historical Society of Sarasota County with support from SARASOTA Magazine.

There is more to the Sarasota area than great beaches, a welcoming climate and key lime pie. Tourists and those moving to our shores know that Sarasota offers a lively performing arts community with its own opera house, ballet company, symphony, theaters galore, choral music, jazz, you name it. We’re a small vibrant city with the

performing arts amenities of a much larger metropolis.

Howard Millman will chair the panel in April at the Historical Society’s Conversation at the Crocker

But it didn’t happen overnight or without concentrated effort by both visionary professionals and talented volunteers. Learn how Sarasota became a performing arts destination when a panel of experts led by esteemed director Howard Millman takes the stage at The Crocker Memorial Church on Tuesday, April 9, at 7 p.m. for a conversation among colleagues that reveals how and why Sarasota celebrates the performing arts.

It’s big business in this town.

Appearing with Howard Millman (theater) on April 9, will be Jean Weidner Goldstein (ballet), Trevor Cramer (music) and Richard Russell (opera). Audience members can expect lots of revealing backstage stories as these experts chart the turbulent course of the performing arts in our community. They’ll also give their perspectives on the state of the performing arts today and observations for the future in this arts-loving town.

Audience members are invited to participate in a question and answer session.

Conversations at The Crocker highlight specific aspects of Sarasota’s past and examine pivotal events and people who have influenced Sarasota today. Conversations are free to Historical Society members; guests, $10.

All Conversations take place at The Crocker Memorial Church and proceeds from this series help to maintain the Historical Society’s two heritage properties at Pioneer Park – the Bidwell-Wood House (1882, Sarasota’s oldest private residence) and the Crocker Memorial Church (1901). Docent-led tours of both buildings are available an hour before each of the Conversations at The Crocker events. And the Gift Shop is open, featuring locally made crafts and a wide array of books about regional history.  For more information contact Site Manager Linda Garcia at 364-9076 Monday – Friday from 10 til 2.