Sunday Favorites: 'Florida Man' was Always a Thing: Part 2

This area has always attracted affluent people. Take Maj. Alden Jones Adams for example. Born in Massachusetts on Oct 14, 1843, he first served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald during the Franco-Prussian War and cross the Atlantic Ocean 40 times during that period, becoming an accomplished linguist in the process. After falling in love with Adelaide Gilbert, an American, in Rome, Adams retired from his trade and the couple purchased 400 acres on the Manatee River near the current site of Manatee Memorial Hospital. The Addams built a 16-room castle. Construction took seven years to complete. Major Adams salvaged the interior woodwork from a sunken ship in the Manatee River, almost drowning in the process. He landscaped with exotic plant species from all over the world and released non-native animals into his ”jungle“ including parrots, monkeys, and other birds. In 1924, the castle was torn down.

Police officers gave speeding tickets to people on horseback.

Aiden Adams's daughter, Tekla, born on November 28, 1898, was fond of wildly galloping into town on her favorite horse. After enough people were forced to jump out of her way and complained, the county sheriff issued her father a speeding citation.

Decades later, another strange law enforcement citation gained popularity when the Palmetto Police Department began pulling over people traveling south in cars on U.S. 41 and giving them flowers instead of a speeding ticket. The campaign was meant to promote Palmetto as a destination, while also showing off one of the city’s most popular products, gladiolus. The flower was grown commercially in Terra Ceia and shipped all over the U.S., according to a paper written by historian Cathy Slusser called ”Living in a Heavenly Land.“

Nannie Richards had a secret pork chop recipe, but it didn’t involve pigs.

Nancy Mariah ”Nannie“ Richards was born on December 20, 1985, in Gillett, a settlement named after grandfather Daniel Gillett. Nannie’s pride and joy was a motor launch she had called Zelda. She was an excellent boat helmsman and could even repair the engine. She often took children and guests out scalloping and camping on local barrier islands. When the fish weren’t biting, Nannie would disappear for a few hours and return with a large chunk of meat she used to fry up pork chops – at least that’s what the guests assumed. In reality, she caught sharks, which were considered inedible at the time, butchered them, and served them for dinner.

Speaking of questionable meat, Judah B. Benjamin escaped on a butchered beef cart. At the close of the Civil War, Southern sympathizers harbored the former Confederate Secretary at the Gamble Mansion in Ellenton. When the perfect opportunity presented itself, he was transferred to Capt. Teresa’s home in Manatee and a plan was devised for his escape. Benjamin hid in a wagon loaded with butchered beef destined to Sarasota. After he arrived in the neighboring town, he boarded a small boat called the Blonde, which was hidden in the mangroves, and sailed to the Bahamas. From there, he escaped to Great Britain where he maintained a successful career in politics. During his escape, it was rumored that while law enforcement was in pursuit of his whereabouts, they mistook Julie ”Madame Joe“ Atzeroth as Benjamin dressed as a woman.

The first coffee grown in the continental United States was grown in West Bradenton.

Madam Joe Atzeroth was famous for another reason. Born in Bavaria on December 27, 1807, she came to Terra Ceia in the spring of 1843 with her husband Joseph Atzeroth, in order to improve her health. Because she always called her husband "Mr. Joe", she came to be called "Madam Joe" by other early settlers along the Manatee River. She helped her husband clear some of their sixty-acre homesteads with an ax began and began to regain her strength. They constructed a log-pen house to replace the original palmetto thatched hut. In these early days, they also resided part of the time in Tampa, where Madam Joe ran a beer and cake shop that became popular with the soldiers, later she ran a general store in Palmetto. Joe died at their Terra Ceia home in 1871. Madam Joe sold part of the Terra Ceia plantation in 1873 and moved to Fogartyville, across the Manatee River, where she lived with her daughter Eliza (Mrs. William) Fogarty. In her old age, she grew coffee from seed received from the Warner's of Palma Sola and sent four pounds of coffee to President Rutherford B. Hayes, for which she received a ten-dollar gold piece for growing the first coffee grown in the continental United States.

That’s all for today! Tune in next week as we explore more interesting local history!