Hail This Feisty Village! Longbeach, Florida, 1885–1955
Torrington, Connecticut: Rainbow Press, 1984. LONGBOAT KEY BEFORE THE CONDOS — PHOTOS, PIONEERS & AN EARLY FOLD-OUT MAP.
Drawing upon personal recollections, interviews, photographs, maps, and local records, Lora Colvin Whitney chronicles Longbeach, the early settlement at the northern end of Longboat Key, from its pioneer beginnings through the island’s incorporation in 1955.
A COMMUNITY REMEMBERS ITSELF.
Whitney writes from within the community. She and her husband Gordon arrived in 1935, developed Whitney Beach, and participated in local civic life. Her account preserves the people, homes, hotels, schools, storms, transportation, and community institutions of a changing barrier-island settlement and remains a source for later histories of Longboat Key.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: ILLUSTRATED LOCAL HISTORY.
Original yellow illustrated glued wrappers. 8.5 inches tall. 126 pages, including index. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white historical photographs, drawings, and documentary material. With a folding reproduction of an early plat map of Long Boat Beach at the rear.
CONDITION: VERY GOOD. Binding firm and interior clean. Wrappers show handling, light soiling and age-toning, with minor edge and corner wear. Contents and illustrations remain clean and well preserved. Fold-out map intact.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: THE OLD VILLAGE OF LONGBOAT KEY.
Whitney's history is particularly valuable because it records Longbeach before later development transformed Longboat Key. The photographs preserve early docks, bathhouses, residences, the Longbeach Inn, schoolhouse, John Ringling's unfinished Ritz-Carlton project, and residents whose experiences form much of the narrative.
The book has become a recognized source for Longboat Key history. It is cited in the National Register documentation for the Rufus P. Jordan House and has been used in later accounts of Longbeach's historic buildings and community development.
A PARTICIPANT'S HISTORY.
Whitney was not simply a later historian of the community. She and Gordon Whitney came to Longboat Key in 1935 and established Whitney Beach, developing a group of vacation cottages and participating in local civic life. That firsthand connection gives the volume particular value as both local history and community memory.
SUBJECTS: Longboat Key, Longbeach Florida, Manatee County Florida, Sarasota area, Florida Gulf Coast, Whitney Beach, Florida barrier islands, Florida pioneers, Florida tourism, historic photographs, Florida history.
Item #22454
Price: $65.00
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