Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’

Historic Spanish Point Campus

The past meets the future at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus. Art meets nature here too.

Located in Osprey about seven miles north of Venice, Selby Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus is a 30-acre museum and preserve perched on Little Sarasota Bay. The first site in Sarasota County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it showcases native Florida plants while preserving and interpreting thousands of years of regional history.

Visitors can explore several distinct periods of the past as they roam the picturesque campus. The archaeological record shows that ancient peoples made their home here as far back as 5,000 years. In fact, the very land that forms today’s campus was made by human hands! By recycling shells from feasts and constructing a platform on which to build homes and hold ceremonies, the First Floridians who lived here gained safety from storm tides and enjoyed the same bay breezes visitors do today. An exhibit titled “A Window to the Past” lets you literally look back in time at a cross-section of the shell mound that was built here beginning 2,500 years ago.

Moving forward, the site celebrates over 150 years of pioneer heritage dating to homesteaders who settled here in 1867. Visitors may tour a carefully restored 1901 pioneer home, the rehabilitated Mary’s Chapel (with original stained-glass windows and bronze bell), and a reconstructed citrus packinghouse that was a center of local commerce.

Next comes the era of Bertha Palmer, a famous Chicago businesswoman and innovator who chose the site as her winter estate in 1910. Palmer preserved the pioneer buildings and connected them to lavish formal gardens and lawns, three of which—the Sunken Garden, Duchene Lawn, and Jungle Walk Garden—can still be enjoyed today. 

The property’s bountiful plant life has become an even greater focus since Historic Spanish Point was adopted by Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in 2020 as a companion to its Downtown Sarasota campus. More than half of the species of native plants found in Sarasota County can be admired along the nature trails and boardwalks of the Historic Spanish Point campus. New features since the adoption include the region’s only butterfly house, which sits next to the large native butterfly garden. Food service and a campus-to-campus boat tour are also available. 

Selby Gardens has also introduced cutting-edge art without disrupting the campus’ natural or cultural integrity. Seeing the Invisible: An Augmented-Reality Contemporary-Art Exhibition features 13 international works of art installed throughout the campus. The only thing is, you must use your smartphone or tablet to experience them! The show runs through September 2023. (Be sure to download the exhibition app before visiting.)

401 North Tamiami Trail

Osprey, FL 34229

941.366.5731

selby.org