Locally this this Victorian house was known as the Chadwick House.  It is located at 121 N.6th Street, Fernandina Beach, Florida. It was built by a local mariner Captain Stephen Chadwick, in 1883.   It is a Queen Anne style wood frame home. It is set on brick piers.  It has been maintained through the years by the descendant of the Captain.  It is located over 6 city lots in the heart of historic downtown.

     The house features 3,332 square feet of space.  There is a wrap around porch. There are ornate curved wood banisters, a working fire place, pine hard wood flooring, original windows.

  Fernandina Beach is located on the north end of Amelia Island which is located in the Atlantic Ocean north and east of the Florida mainland.

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     The  new fishing pier in Matlacha Park opened on January 29, 2021.    This pier was originally built 50 years ago.   As part of a reconstruction project, it closed in July, 2018.  The existing pier was replaced.   Benches, garbage cans, lighting, and cleaning stations were added.  The cost of the project was $833,805.

     The pier is located in Matlacha Park.  It is 9 acres.  The park is located at Matlacha Pass, Pine Island.

     The Guggenheim Museum is an iconic art museum in New York City located at 1071 5th Avenue.  This is the permanent home of an extensive collection of Impressionist, Post Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art.

   The first home of the Guggenheim was opened in 1939 in rented space by the Stanley Guggenheim Foundation.  

     The museum retained Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new home for the collection.  He proposed a cylindrical building that was wider at the top than the base.  As a cost saving measure the outer walls were made of concrete instead of stone.  Wright’s original plan was the the walls would be red; this plan was discarded for white walls.  The museum moved to the new building in 1959.

     The builds was renovated and expanded in 1992.   The Guggenheim Museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 6/6/2008.

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     Bayfront Park is located in Sarasota at 5 Bayfront Drive near the intersection of US 41 and Gulfstream Avenue. It sits on Sarasota Bay between the bay and the city marina.  From the park, downtown  sky line can be seen.

     The parking is free.  It features excellent paths for walking and jogging.  Fishing and boating are available.  There is a play ground and a children’s play fountain.  There is a Dolphin Fountain.

Bay front Park

     This bridge is the John Ringing Causeway aka Ringling Bridge or Gil Waters Bridge

     The first bridge at this site was built in 1925 by John Ringling.  It extended from Sarasota to Lido and Longboat Keys.  Ringling financed the bridge at a cost of $750,000.  He built the bridge to have access to his land holdings on the two keys.  The bridge opened in 1926.  Over the years, the bridge deteriorated and the damage was so extensive that in 1951 the state began to replace the bridge

     The replacement bridge was a four lane drawbridge.  It opened in 1959  The cost of the bridge was $20 million.  Around 2000, the bridge exhibited marked deterioration.  

     A new high span bridge was proposed and was built.  It opened in 2003.  This current bridge carries 4 lanes of traffic on SR 789 and a pedestrian lane.It crosses Sarasota Bay. Design is segmental box girder.  Total length of the bridge is 3,097.04 feet. Width is 106.35 feet.  Height is 65 feet.  There are 11 spans.Construction costs are 68 million dollars.  The bridge was constructed by PCL Construction.

    

   This mid century modern house was built in 1956. The architect was Ralph Twitchell from the Sarasota School of Architecture.  The house is currently for sale.  It is located on a .34 acre lot.  It has 2,377.59 square feet of space.  It has 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

       Beginning with the Spanish explorers in the 16th century, the English Colonist, and the early American settlers, these men all  dreamed of a cross Florida canal from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.  It was not until 1932 that concrete plans were developed for this canal.  In March of 1826, Congress authorized $20,000 for a preliminary survey of canal routes by the Army Corps of Engineers. From the 1840’s until 1932, the Army Corp of Engineers considered 28 routes for the canal.  They drafted plans for a 30 foot deep waterway for large vessels to cross the state along a circuitous route from Jacksonville to Yankeetown.  The route began at Jacksonville and followed the Saint John River to Potlaka and then along the Ocklawaha River to Silver Springs then westward across land below Ocala to Dunnellon and finally along the course of the Withlacoochee River to the Gulf of Mexico.  

     In 1935 during the Roosevelt administration, construction began on the canal.  The justification was that it would be a job creator.  The construction only continued for a year.  In 1942, Congress passed a bill authorization a canal along the 1932 route.  

     However, money for the project was not appropriated.  The proposed canal was modified from the original plan.  It would be a barge canal 12 feet deep and there would be locks and dams. Nothing was done on the project until 1964.  Funding was authorized during the Lyndon Johnson administration.  This was touted as a national defense project. The construction continued for 7 years.  Approximately 1/3 of the 200 mile project was finished during this time period.

     Conservatives and conservationists mobilised to block the project.  They were able to convince the courts and President Nixon to halt the project on January, 1971.  These activist were not content with their successes.  They also sought to have existing canal structures in the Ocklawa River removed. These consisted of the Rodman Dam and adjacent reservoir without success.