I enjoyed watching segments of last month's episode of A Gulf Coast Journal with Jack Perkins being filmed at Historic Spanish Point and seeing museum member Betty Intagliata portray Mrs. Potter Palmer in the telecast.  Also of interest were scenes of the clubhouse and a renovated historic cottage at Eagle Point.  To learn more about Eagle Point's history, I turned to Venice, Journey from Horse and Chaise, one of the best history books about Venice, written in 1989 by another one of our members, Janet Snyder Matthews.
 
According to Matthews' research, the development of the winter resort Eagle Point was begun on Palmer land in 1916 under the supervision of M.T. L. "Mike" Evans, an Englishman who came to Florida from Virginia but also owned the "Tepee" dude ranch in the Rockies.  The Sarasota Times that year described Eagle Point as "a winter camp, where all the pleasures of sport on water and land can be enjoyed by the guests."  Its two-story clubhouse (shown above, courtesy of the Venice Archives and Area Historical Collection) featured a dining room and library on the first floor where guests would gather for meals and bridge in the evening.  The second floor had guest rooms reserved for bachelors.  Families stayed in one story, porch-wrapped guest cottages built of heart-of-pine lumber.
 
As the camp's manager, Evans arranged fishing expeditions and for local guides to take guests, on horseback, to hunt quail.  A tennis court was built, and by the end of 1917, Evans was supervising the construction of additional cottages.  After a second successful season, he purchased "Eagle Point -- 30 acres on Roberts Bay" from Palmer's Sarasota-Venice Company.  Evans in turn sold the camp in 1923 to Frederick Kingsbury Curtis, a New York lawyer and entrepreneur who wintered at Eagle Point.  Evans remained as manager for several years, however, and eventually 17 cottages dotted the landscaped grounds.
 
The Eagle Point Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Visit Historic Spanish Point   

Historic Spanish Point's staff works hard seven days a week to preserve and interpret your museum.  So, we were all delighted to read loyal member Vi Goldberg's comment in her recent membership survey response:  "Historic Spanish Point has progressed 'beautifully.'  It is an outstanding archive, much representative of the times past brought into the present."  

Did you know that Historic Spanish Point's recent summer camps served more than 900 children from the Sarasota County area?  Every camper was invited to fish from our shorelines, do arts and crafts, and explore nature.  Some spent a day on the Gulf, across Little Sarasota Bay at Palmer Point, and several lucky youngsters enjoyed our first-ever stand up paddleboard (SUP) camp.  Wow!

To make such programs possible, your museum depends not only upon members' generous support, but also upon essential partnerships with Sarasota County government and local businesses. 

The best way to thank these organizations for partnering with your museum is to consider patronizing them with future business.  Be sure to mention that you heard about their role at Historic Spanish Point this summer.

Member Pat Ling recently donated antique toys representative of the pioneer period to our collection.  You'll see several of them on display at Guptill House.  Thanks, Pat.  

During the Florida sales tax holidays, August 13-15, you can purchase books tax-free in the Museum Store. The savings also will apply to t-shirts, including the new "summer fun" design priced at only $12.95 before your member discount.  Not yet a member?  Join now.  Store proceeds support Historic Spanish Point's mission to connect people of today with 5,000 years of human history in southwest coastal Florida.