Anna Maria Island, sometimes called Anna Maria Key, is a barrier island on the coast of Manatee County, Florida in the United States. 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 Sarasota Bay and Sarasota Pass, and on the north by Tampa Bay. Anna Maria Island is approximately seven miles long north to south.
History
Anna Maria Island was discovered by local indian tribes the Timucan and Caloosan American Indian tribes and then by Spanish explorers (including Hernando DeSoto) in the name of the Spanish Crown. Hernando de Soto and his crew entered the mouth of Tampa Bay north of Anna Maria in May, 1539, but passed it by to make their landfall on the mainland.
In 1892 George Emerson Bean became the first permanent resident on the Island and homesteaded much of what is now the City of Anna Maria. After Bean's death in 1898, the land went 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 to develop the area. The company laid out streets, built sidewalks and houses and installed a water system.
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." According to a regional historian of note, Lillian Burns, the daughter of the early land developer, Owen Burns, the correct pronunciation of the name of the island by its early settlers was, an-na ma-rye-a, since it was named for the strong winds occurring in the area, using the German term for the wind, Maria.
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. Each of these state roads terminates at its intersection with State Road 789.
Anna Maria Island is serviced 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.[4] The SCAT connects to the trolley at Coquina Beach, at the south end of Anna Maria Island, just before the Longboat Key Bridge.[5] 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 Steet in Bradenton Beach. The remaining parts of the Cortez Bridge are used as a fishing pier.[6]
Tourism
Anna Maria Island has a thriving arts community. Cultural Connections, http://culturalconnections.info/, a coalition of the island's cultural venues, includes the Anna Maria Island Art League, http:www.IslandArtLeague.org/; Anna Maria Island Artists Guild, http://www.amiartistsguildgallery.com/; a local theater company, the Island Players, http://www.theislandplayers.org/; Anna Maria Island Community Chorus & Orchestra (AMICCO), http://www.amicco.org/, Anna Maria Island Historical Society, http://www.amihs.org/; Island Gallery West, http://www.islandgallerywest.com/; and The Studio at Gulf and Pine, http://www.studioatgulfandpine.com/. The group produces an island-wide arts weekend each November called artsHOP.
Anna Maria Island is also known as the "wedding capital of Florida." The Chamber of Commerce hosts an annual Wedding Festival.
With its crystal white beaches and an average year-round temperature of 74.8 degrees, Anna Maria Island is a year-round tourist attraction. Restaurants, resorts, gift and curio shops, real estate companies, and local watering holes dominate the economy.
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.[7] Protection of the sea turtles is an important aspect of the island culture, and information and training is available for tourists and locals in abundance. Manatees are also frequent summer visitors at Anna Maria Island, and similarly, the Manatee is held in great reverence by islanders. A subspecies of the Indian Manatee, these herbivores call Anna Maria Island their summer vacation home.[8] The entire island is a bird sanctuary, and pelicans, multiple types of cranes and herons, wild parrots, sand pipers, hawks, vultures, seagulls, and crows share the island with humans. Bottlenose dolphins can be observed both in the Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf. You can watch them from boats,piers, and even from the shore. They often dive in and out of the wake from boats, leaping high into the air and thrilling their watching audience.
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
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