Adventure in Paradise, Anna Maria Island and

There is no best time to visit the Bradenton, the barrier islands Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key, but the month of February allows you to take full advantage of the romantic aura that surrounds the region. Like pearls strung out along the Gulf Coast, 15-miles in length, it is possible to pick your passion and create your own experience.

The area is located on the West Coast of Florida midway between Sarasota and Tampa, a brief ride from the Sarasota Airport. The destination offers a selection of pristine beaches, cultural and artistic offerings, an extraordinary range of culinary venues and accommodations created to fulfill your personal desires. www.bradentongulfislands.com.

For thousands of years Native American tribes, most notably the Calusa, Jeaga, Tequesta and Apalachee, inhabited Florida. Hernando De Soto arrived in 1539 and after contact with the Spanish conquistadors their numbers were rapidly depleted by disease, battle and enslavement and removal. Even under these circumstances the Apalachee put up such a fierce fight that the Spanish were not eager to settle there for more than a century.

In 1842 brothers Dr. Joseph and Hector Braden left plantations they owned in North Florida and moved to the Manatee River area to start anew. Hector drowned in 1846 but Joseph persevered, developed a sugar plantation and erected the Braden Sugarmill and a log home/stockade known as Braden’s Castle. The 2-story structure had 20-inch thick walls and each outer wall was 100-feet long.