DEEP HISTORY
of the Cortez Fishing Village
BY: SARAH FISH
Bradenton would not be the city it is today if not for the Gulf
waters, estuaries and Manatee River. Surrounded by water, the
area would be nothing without this vital resource. Nor without
the industrious fishing community that made this coast their
home and livelihood at the historic Cortez Fishing Village.
Cortez Village, originally called Hunter’s Point, was settled in
1880 by fishing families from North Carolina. It remains one of
the few working fishing villages in Florida to this day. Many descendants of the original families
still inhabit the community, which is also home to 97 structures listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
Honoring that past and our waters at the Village is The Florida Maritime Museum, whose mission
is to collect, preserve and share traditional knowledge, cultural artifacts and personal stories
specific to Florida’s fishing and maritime heritage.
History of the Cortez Fishing Village
“It’s almost like stepping back in time,” Karen Bell, Friends of the
Florida Maritime Museum board member and owner of Starfish Co.,
says in a video interview. Bell is a lifelong resident and descendant
of the original settlers to the location. She took over Cortez fishing
company AP Bell from her elders, plus she sits on the board of
Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage, a non-profit organization.
Several homes have come and
gone with time, many destroyed
by weather catastrophes,
notably, the hurricane of 1921,
one of the largest storms to
batter the coast of Florida. In its
wake, the entire Cortez Village
was flooded. The schoolhouse
served as shelter for the
community, at a time before the
auditorium was even built.
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