The Florida Maritime Museum is a museum, sponsored by Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Courts, located on almost of land known as the Cortez Nature Preserve within the historic fishing village of Cortez, Florida.
The museum tells a number of stories pertaining to all aspects of Florida’s maritime history. Exhibits include historic photographs, boat models, tools, instruments, and other historic artifacts. The museum also features a large collection of shells from the Gulf of Mexico and a research library with a variety of books, plans, logs, diaries, periodicals, letters, records and related archival material whose content is relevant to research concerning maritime subjects, with special emphases on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The museum is also home to The Folk School, which teaches traditional Florida maritime skills and folk art.
The museum is housed in a 1912 schoolhouse building at 4415 119th Street West. Other historic structures located on the site include the 1890 Burton/Bratton Store, a wooden cistern, and the 1907 Pillsbury Boatshop.
Mission
The Florida Maritime Museum's mission is to collect, preserve and share traditional knowledge, cultural artifacts and personal stories specific to Florida’s fishing and maritime heritage.
Historic Structures and Grounds
The Florida Maritime Museum is located on almost 4 acres of land that include native plant gardens, fountains, a chickee hut, historic structures, and maritime objects. The grounds are open to the public from dusk to dawn.
1912 Cortez Rural Graded Schoolhouse
The Cortez Rural Graded Schoolhouse was constructed in 1912 as one of six schools built by Manatee County that year. It replaced an older one-room structure that still stands in the village. Originally three rooms (two classrooms and a principal's office), the school underwent a Federal Works Progress Administration program in 1933 where the middle room, used as a principal's office, was extended into an auditorium with a stage, forming a T-shaped floor plan. The building was used as a school until 1961, when it was leased to an art school. It was ultimately bought in 1974 by Robert Sailors, a master weaver, who converted the old classrooms and auditorium into his studios and home, respectively. Sailors lived and worked in the building until his passing in 1995. In 1999, Manatee County purchased the property and carefully restored the building. In 2007, it was reopened as the Florida Maritime Museum. The Cortez Schoolhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Cortez Historic District.
Robert Sailors' Secret Garden and Butterfly Garden
In 1974, Robert Sailors, a master weaver, purchased the Cortez Schoolhouse and transformed the property into his studio and living quarters. Sailors added two patios to the exterior of the schoolhouse, with one featuring a water sculpture of blue ceramic tile and lead-glass windows. Today, the Florida Maritime Museum continues to maintain the water sculpture as well as other sculptures featured throughout the grounds.
1890 Burton/Bratton Store
In the 1890s, William C. Bratton built the first commercial building at Hunter's Point, the original name of the area that would eventually be called Cortez. The building served as post office, general store and steamboat wharf and connected the village's fishing families with the outside world. In 1900, rooms were added creating an inn, which became known at the Albion Inn. Expanded over time, the Albion Inn, along with the 1912 Cortez Schoolhouse, served as refuge for the displaced residents of the small village during the destructive 1921 hurricane. In 1974, the inn closed and the property was sold to the US Coast Guard. A community effort spearheaded by the Cortez Village Historical Society and the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (F.I.S.H.) saved the store from demolition in 1991. It was moved to this site in 2006. After renovations, the old store was reopened as a part of the Florida Maritime Museum in 2018. It currently houses museum collections upstairs and serves as office space downstairs.