Florida/local

The growth and development of Sarasota's North Tamiami Trail is chronicled by renowned local writer and historian Jeff

LaHurd in this colorful pictorial guide to the gateway to Sarasota during the 20th Century. The North Tamiami Trail: A Drive Through Sarasota History was commissioned by the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation to highlight the rich history of this stretch of the Tamiami Trail and help familiarize readers with the historic structures that still exist, and memorialize many of those that have been lost to development.

Supplementing Jeff's work on the physical aspects of the Trail's history, the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation has provided an introduction that puts the Trail's history in a social context. We provide a broad overview of the history of Overtown, the Sarasota's first African American community. Located adjacent to North Trail, its residents helped build its history, but were not able to enjoy its benefits until later in the 20th Century.

Finally, the book provides the reader with a detailed map to facilitate self-exploration of the North Trail, its surviving businesses and its history.

The story of Sanibel and Captiva Islands stretches back over three centuries, to a time when Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon tried to subdue the Calusa Indians.

The next few centuries were flooded with pioneers, fishermen and clergymen in their quest to tame the wilderness in search of a better life. Discover how anthropologist Frank Cushing visited pioneer Sam Ellis in 1895 after the farmer discovered bones on his homestead and how President Theodore Roosevelt's men saved a little girl from drowning when he lived on a houseboat in Captiva to study local marine life. Join local history columnist Jeri Magg as she recounts the storied history of these little slices of paradise.

This guide includes 36 species of palm trees, both common and exotic, found throughout the Southeast U.S.. Includes both solitary and clustering species, both cultivated and species found in the wild. Species list by Alan Meerow, palm expert and author of the authoritative Betrock's Landscape Plants. lllustrations by Robert O'Brien, well-known artist and naturalist based in Austin, Texas and Clearwater, Florida.

The palmetto, also known as the cabbage palm or Sabal palmetto, is an iconic part of the southeastern American landscape and the state tree of Florida and South Carolina. In The Palmetto Book, Jono Miller offers surprising facts and dispels common myths about an important native plant that remains largely misunderstood.

Miller answers basic questions such as: Are palms trees? Where did they grow historically? When should palmettos be pruned? What is swamp cabbage and how do you prepare it? Did Winslow Homer's watercolors of palmettos inadvertently document rising sea level? How can these plants be both flammable and fireproof? Based on historical research, Miller argues that cabbage palms can live for more than two centuries. The palmettos that were used to build Fort Moultrie at the start of the Revolutionary War thwarted a British attack on Charleston--and ended up on South Carolina's flag.

Delving into biology, Miller describes the anatomy of palm fronds and their crisscrossed leaf bases, called bootjacks. He traces the underground "saxophone" structure of the young plant's root system. He explores the importance of palmettos for many wildlife species, including Florida Scrub-Jays and honey bees. Miller also documents how palmettos can pose problems for native habitats, citrus groves, and home landscapes.

From Low Country sweetgrass baskets to Seminole chickees and an Elvis Presley movie set, the story of the cabbage palm touches on numerous dimensions of the natural and cultural history of the Southeast. Exploring both the past and present of this distinctive species, The Palmetto Book is a fascinating and enlightening journey.