Historic Spanish Point is operated by the Gulf Coast Heritage Association, Inc. which is located at 337 North Tamiami Trail, in Osprey, Florida.
Explore 5,000 Years of History at Spanish Point
Spanish Point boasts the world’s only museum exhibition built inside a prehistoric shell mound known as a midden.
The museum’s “A Window to the Past” exhibition was renovated in 2005 with funding provided by the Selby Foundation, and it is the only place in the country where visitors can go inside a prehistoric shell midden and are surrounded on three sides by evidence of the past.
The Spanish Point museum also features a turn-of-the-century pioneer homestead, historic house museum, a citrus packing house, a chapel, boatyard, a butterfly garden, nature trails that meander through landscaped gardens and native coastal habitats, and a long boardwalk that looks out over the bay.
There are picnic facilities and wedding packages available at Historic Spanish Point.
The classical styled Pergola overlooking Little Sarasota Bay was restored in the 1980s and is the site of wedding ceremonies and living history drama performances.
Your family will enjoy learning about Florida’s inspiring pioneers at Sarasota’s first produce packing house, a charming chapel and pioneer cemetery, and the beautifully preserved Guptill House, built in 1901.
If plants are your passion, explore Mrs. Potter Palmer’s Jungle Walk and Sunken Garden and the Butterfly Garden, one of the largest on the Gulf Coast. At Guptill Boat Yard, enjoy maritime tales and traditions.
Historic Spanish Point is a significant environmental site, and the museum has worked diligently to remove invasive exotics and restore native habitats.
A professional horticulturist, supported by trained volunteers, cares for the museum’s nature trails and gardens. A native Florida wetland area was completed in 2006.
Florida owes its success to people like John Webb and his family who braved heat, humidity, insects, illness, fires, and risk of hurricanes to settle and build up Osprey and the Florida gulf coast region.
The rich heritage of human habitation at Historic Spanish Point entered a new phase in 1867 when John Greene Webb and his family from Utica, New York established a homestead on the shores of Little Sarasota Bay.
Historic Spanish Point is proud of it’s history and invites you to experience it first hand by strolling through the 30-acres of nature and gardens, and by engaging yourself in the past by touring the historic buildings.
Historic Spanish Point is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and ranks among the top 4% of our nation’s museums via its American Alliance of Museum’s accreditation.
For more information visit: historicspanishpoint.org
Admission:
Adults (over 12): $10, Seniors (over 65): $9, Sarasota County residents: $9, Youth (5-12): $5, Children (under 5): free, Members: free, Guests accompanying members: $5
Hours:
Monday -Saturday 9 AM to 5 PM; Sunday 12 to 5 PM; Closed Easter, Thanksgiving & Christmas.
