Cute lil spot with some notes on the city. The founder of Gulfport bought Florida out of debt…read moreapparently and saved us all from uh. Someone else taking over I guess. I chatted with the curator? For a while. Very friendly. Guess Gulfport real estate and surrounding has the same problems we do in Cali which is a bit disappointing, seems I have no respite from this cost of living crisis that apparently spans the globe now sigh. But cool museum.

Interesting place to come to see the past of the city of Gulfport. They have info about homes and…read morewater or not your house is part of the historical registry. They also have lindo on some current happenings. Friendly and welcoming. Fun cool old pics and past information.. check it out

Need a safe, cozy, place for kids to romp on a cold day?…read more This mom loving & kid friendly location has education & fun and with a monthly membership you can pop in everyday to learn n play. Check out the womb room and the exhibits about birthing through the ages an in different cultures. Guys can try on the pregnancy vest (ladies can too!) & get a sense of the preggers experience. It's heavy and can modify by month or trimester (can't remember which). There is also a gift shop of wonderful goodies and motherhood based original art. This museum was founded and is run by Joy Rose, a rocking feminist and front woman of Housewives on Prozac. So, clearly the museum supports moms who rock, as seen through many years of Joy's 'Mamapalooza' events. Go now!

I feel like it's my mother instinct in me to write this review. The museum was very educational. I…read morelearned about some of the most famous mothers in America. Also the bathrooms are pretty clean (something any mother can appreciate).

Got to finally meet black santa and family! So very exciting as I looked for years. This is a…read morereally cool black historic museum. They do some really fun events for all ages. Sucha great community here everything they do for everyone. Thank you all for making this possible. Coming back in September m for some fun.

Haven't made it inside the museum just yet but captured footage with my drone a few years ago. The…read moremural is now gone but we know Black History still and will always matter.

An old cottage, mangrove, former ice house & jail make up the island historical site & museum…read more This free museum building from 1920 was originally an icehouse. It went on to serve as an automotive garage, a sea turtle hatchery, & a public administration building. In 1992, the City of Anna Maria turned it into a Historical Society for use as a museum. The Historical Park is the site of a fresh water well established on the Island. Then it became a park used for picnics in the early 1900s. The Historical Park is now planted with drought & disease resistant native plants. The goal of this park is to educate everyone about native plants & provide an example of eco-friendly landscaping. The one room city jail was built in 1927 to "quarter rowdies" who had had a bit too much to drink at the local tavern & dance hall. It was used until the 1940s, when it caught fire. The wooden roof burned away, but the original structure remains. The city decided to use the old jail as a photo op for visitors, so it was left standing & painted with its current slogan. Strangely, this is one of the most photographed attractions on the Island & you know I could not resist.

This is a nice little spot to catch up on the history of this beautiful island getaway we call Anna…read moreMaria Island. We didn't get to go into the actual Historical Museum Building, but we did explore the few areas on ground. First we viewed the Old Jail. Hard to imagine this actually was a jail in the 1920's for the loud drink crazy people. They had bars so they could not get out, but the ceiling was exposed so they could get badly bitten by the bugs. It is now known as the number one place to get pics on AMI. We then checked out the old cottage. This cottage was called Belle Haven. It was built in 1920 on the City Pier down the street, but it fell in the Bay. They decided to include it in the Historical Society for Anna Maria Island. It reflects what cottages looked like back in the day. You can peak through the window which I did. Lastly is the mangroves. This use to be a park for picnics in the 1920's. This is a nice spot to check out history. It is small and just right.

You get what you pay for, and this place is free, although they do accept donations. So don't be a…read morecheapskate and give some dollars if you go. It's mainly outdoors and walking ‍ is required. They have a map and scavenger map for fun. There is no guided tour but that makes it better because you can roam as you like. Seeing all the historical items is always cool and really makes you thank God we weren't born back then lol (no ac). My spawn and I really enjoyed all the old time items and it was cool having to explain what things were. Please go and enjoy yourself.

Such a fun place to visit if you are in the area. I highly recommend taking a self-guided walking…read moretour of the main building and outbuildings.

This was a randomly great place for a field trip…read more Originally my son's first grade class was supposed to go to Heritage Village, but the recent hurricane damaged it. They had to quickly pivot and chose here. It was a far drive for me to chaperone, but it ended up being an enjoyable experience. First know that the parking lot is small. A fellow chaperone said it was generous of me to call it a parking lot. However, you can park along the road before you turn left to go to Camp Bayou so I'm not going to dock it any stars for that. Everyone who worked there were volunteers and they were all so dedicated. It was like watching grandma and grandpas interact with a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds. They definitely didn't know that they shouldn't ask the group if they had any questions (tons of kids had "questions" that were actually them just saying all the facts they knew about fossils.) The best part was they did a fossil dig where each kid was given a square and had 10 fossils to find. This was pretty generous and the fossils were huge. I'm not sure if the school paid more than our original field trip price, but we paid $10 per kid and chaperones were free. That bag of fossils alone was worth over $10 to our children. The rest of the field trip was walking through two different rooms that had tons of fossils. They also gave a presentation about fossils and dinosaurs (I learned that Florida was underwater when dinosaurs roamed the earth, which is why we don't have any fossils.) I'm mainly giving it five stars for the volunteers. They were so sweet. I actually enjoyed chaperoning this field trip, which is a win for me.

Another one of the great secrets of Florida. This park that borders the Little Manatee River is…read morehome to some of the most surprising things. When you start driving down the long country road that leads you to this out of the way county park, you sure are not expecting very much. This is definitely, "The Road Less Travelled". However, once you enter through their unassuming gates you realize their is something pretty dang special going on here. Unspoiled nature... everywhere you look. During the many visits to this park over the years we have seen hawks, gopher tortoises, rattlesnakes, tree frogs, owls, herons, rabbits and even a feral pig. This park has a canoe outpost where you can put into this majestic natural waterway and also offers all kinds of classes,events and other activities. It boasts a butterfly habitat, golf cart tours through the dense forested canopy, a native people's camp, geocaching, and even a little free library. There is also a hidden storybook park where you and your child can walk around and read an entire book just by stopping at the little stations that you find. My daughter has sponsored the Tampa area Save The Frogs Day events here in the past and my wife has taken Florida Master Naturalist classes here to get her certification. This is a county park that has so much to offer its residents. Check it out... you will be so glad that you did!

I like coming here for Christmas. felt like this place has a lot to offer and a lot to give, sad…read moreto see only open one day a week. We had an excellent tour guide. The fact this experience was free. Makes me believe they're still hope for the society we live in. love the people here love the environment.

Went here with my Dino-loving grandson for his birthday and had a blast! The area is small, but…read morewith a devoted and informed staff that put together a truly special "fossil dig" experience for him! The place feels like "Old Florida" as the two buildings are nestled under oak trees and have meticulously catalogued finds labeled in protective cases. The adventure isn't a long one, but getting to see the fossils and walk the trails is a wonderful use of a Saturday morning!

Be prepared for a pleasant surprise at the museum. It is truly magnificent. And as they say a…read morepicture says 1000 words this certainly does. There's so much to see and do here and you don't have to be bothered with the tour guide you simply walk through and see what you want at your own pace. Several parts you can get into for free but we often pay the $25 to have full access to the museum. Was money well spent. The grounds of this museum as well as its interior is splendid. Plan to spend several hours here so you can absorb everything.

Surpringly expansion collection of art, both classic and modern. We took advantage of their free…read morecurated tour of the classic pieces and then did a self guided tour of their modern collection. The modern exhibit included work of Yayoi Kusama and Lichtenstein.