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Sunday Favorites: The Fishing Community of Cortez Part 2

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When we left off last week, the first steamship had begun making stops in the fishing community of Cortez and the first county-built school house was constructed to serve the community's children.

Throughout the 1910s, the community of Cortez continued to grow. Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Bratton, who built the Albion Inn, decided to capitalize on the newly established steamer route by creating a large dock out over the water. The wharf made it easier for the steamers to stop in. Eventually, the wharf housed a barber shop, machine shop, pool room, grocery store and hardware store.

In 1911, The Florida Gazette and Business Directory reported a population of 100, with daily steamer routes to Bradenton, for 75 cents. Because most of the populace was from the Carolinas, it became a running joke that one should never speak derogatively about a Cortesian, especially to another Cortesian, ”because they were all related,“ according to Dr. May Fulford in her 1987 interview with the Manatee Historical Society on the topic of Cortez History.

Most the streets in Cortez were made of shell, likely remnants of prehistoric American Indian villages. The villagers often held community fish fries and other holiday gatherings at the school house. The Albion Inn also served as a community hub. The fishing industry was at an all-time high. But the flourishing village received a devastating blow on October 23, 1921. That day, an unnamed and unannounced hurricane ravaged the waterfront – destroying fishing boats, fish houses net spreads, the wharf and portion of the Albion Inn.

The small village was no match for the sustaining winds at 75 mph, and 10-foot seas. Homes were washed off their foundations and carried into Sarasota Bay, some more than 200 feet from their original location. As the sea level rose, families abandoned their homes in skiffs and sought refuge in the brick school house. When the school was full, they fled, using their boats to escape down Cortez Road.

”All that was left of the shoreline the next morning was an eerie maze of pilings and twisted stubs marking the spots where buildings had stood before,“ Fulford said. ”Since that day, the history of Cortez has been divided into two epics, before the storm of ’21 and after.

After it was safe to return to the village, residents cleared the rubble and began to rebuild. Slowly, life returned to normal.

The roaring 1920s brought many changes to the little village. Automobiles were gaining popularity and for the first time, shipments of seafood were transported by road. Electricity was a welcomed addition to the homes. Prior to that, all cooking was done on wood stoves and clothes were washed in large cauldrons above an open fire.

The optimism of the community was echoed in the musical jamborees of the Culbreath family every Saturday and Sunday morning. Grandpa Culbreath and his descendants liked to rouse the village with the delightful strumming of guitars and fiddles.

When the depression hit, Cortez was unaffected. The villagers were the only people in the country still eating scallops and fish daily. That’s likely the reason they were the only community in the entire country that did not receive a dollar of federal aid, according to Robert Ripley, of Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum.

Since the 1950s, the face of change has moved much more quickly for Cortez. At one time, anti-net legislation was the biggest threat to the fishing village, today its development. Throughout the years, Cortez has manage to maintain its quaintness and historic livelihood. My hope is it will continue to stay strong and prosper in this modern world.

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