florida maritime museum

GrandmaLolly70

This was the second small free museum we visited during our week on Anna Maria Island. (The first was Bradenton). Small but very interesting display of shells and fishing and history of Cortez. I like small museums because they don't overwhelm. Helpful friendly docent. Highly recommend to young & old. . The gift shop had some nice items also.

HappyNudistCouple

This place is nice - but not a super huge museum. The information provide explains the former glory of fishing and maritime history of the city of Cortez and old Florida in general. May be hard to keep a child interested for more than an hour.

MorganBayPanama

Nice marine time museum. Local. but they do have some nice things. Close to bus stop. No need to come back again. once is enought

micchio

Nice one room museum on the way to beach on left side of 684 before the bridge. Free admission, and an extensive library on boating and Gulf coast FL.

ERIC353

I learned about this museum from a brochure on the Gulf Islands. It is an easy stop off of Cortez Road on the way over to Anna Maria Island. The museum is free but worth a donation in the box at the end. There is also a small gift store. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable on the area. The museum has some excellent exhibits on the maritime and general history of the area, with a lot of old photographs as well as antique type items. Everything is informative and enjoyable and you can easily learn a lot in a short time. The museum is especially nice when combined with a trip to the Manatee Village Historical Park a few miles away. You can read about the importance of boats and steamships at the Museum and then visit the Village and see the old boatworks building.

KellyZak

If you are a lover of Florida Maritime and like the history of Cortez, this museum is a must stop! The people that work there are full of knowledge and enthusiasm to share it. It is a small, kid friendly museum.

norwoodpark

After completing a walking tour of Cortez, stopped in this former schoolhouse to see the exhibits. I wasn't expecting much after reading some of the comment here but it was called a maritime museum so wasn't disappointed that the full history fo the village wasn't included. A nice stop for either a sunny or rainy day as it does not take long to tour it. I did notice there are many tours that start/end here so they are reaching out for something beyond their 4 walls.

GGGKalamazoo

So much of the 'Old Florida' has been lost and Cortez as a real commercial fishing village is one of the places you can still find it. This museum captures the history of this town and the Florida fishing industry in a lovely restored schoolhouse. The schoolhouse itself has quite a history and provides a setting for learning and preservation. The museum has an active group of volunteers that are present to share their stories and knowledge. Take a few minutes to reflect here before or after a stop at one of the fish markets or restaurants and you will not be disappointed.

cortezian

Thank you for visiting the Florida Maritime Museum. We agree that Cortez history is very important and have maintained the exhibits relating to the rich commercial fishing and maritime heritage, as well as the founding Cortez families and the school house building. The Cortez Village Historical Society is working hard to open the Cortez Family Life Museum that will focus on the cultural and family histories.

esormot

Located in the charming fishing village of Cortez, this little museum is great! Aside from the history and heritage of the area, there is quite a bit to see and enjoy. We found the staff to be most helpful and friendly. Most, I believe are volunteers, but the manager, Amara was a delight.We are lucky to live in this area, but we learned so much more about it. And they have several fun events throughout the year. Well worth the visit.

grants632

A wonderful tour of the Maritime Museum given by Amara was interesting and informative. Amara's enthusiasm for the history of the Cortez fishing village and the museum is a great asset for the organization. We look forward to another day to browse and enjoy the grounds and displays at this great little museum. Thanks Amara!!

AMatthewsBurg

The Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez is a great gem- a beautiful historic school house, nice gardens, interesting programming- you can build a boat! The exhibits themselves tell the story of this small fishing village and the larger maritime story of Florida complete with some natural history specimens from Gulf waters. I found the staff very knowledgeable and friendly, I will definitely recommend this to my friends an family.

FloridaYankee

After seeing it advertised in our local attractions, my husband I took the drive up to Cortez to check it out. It is a beautiful old school building, and the exhibits were interesting. Lots of antique ship models and a beautiful old vintage canoe from Maine, as well as history on who occupied the area before the Spanish, and who settle Cortez. We were there when they first opened and nice young man named John answered questions and shared history on many of the ship models that we saw. When I mentioned CaptainMike55's post about nothing for kids to do, he showed us a room he is setting up with hands on exhibits and experiences for kids. They working to freshen what has been a static display for years, and injecting new blood into the place with ship building demonstrations, life music in the courtyard (and on stage indoors in the summer months). If you are lucky enough to go when John is there, the experience will be very positive as he seemed very knowledgeable and dedicated. Another feather in our Gulf Coast cap, in my opinion! Check it out for yourself.

CaptainMike55

I brought my son based on the the last review, but it is a "do not touch" kind of a place. Also, the woman in charge (Amanda?) does not seem to know anything about boats. After asking about ten questions that she could not answer (the last two were simple ones because I thought I was making her feel bad and did not mean to, but she could not even get those) we went outside. The grounds are very pretty, and my son and I had a nice walk. Since it was not a great visit, I took him to Tyler's Ice Cream just up the street and that seemed to make him happy. Next time we will skip the museum and just go and get ice cream.

JamieC921

I have lived in Manatee County for many years and never knew this place was there, but I was missing out! I actually ended up volunteering there every Saturday for months, and was treated very well by the people who work there, especially Amara. It is a great little place to visit if you like maritime history. Definitely worth a visit, a place to bring your children too, I know because I brought my son there and he fell in love with it.