HSOSC maintains and operates two of the oldest buildings in Sarasota, and trained docents offer tours of the buildings upon request. We also present monthly panel discussions on local history, narrated trolley tours of the historic downtown area, and this year we have started a history book club and luncheons with local authors.
I went to a meeting shortly after I moved to Sarasota, responded to a request for volunteer docents, and 3-1/2 years later I was elected president, a position I still hold.
Howard Rosenthal
While the history of Sarasota County is not long (the first known permanent settler made his home on the shores of Sarasota Bay in 1842), it is fascinating. This area of Florida was a hot spot for homesteaders, land grabs, hopeful Scots (who arrived in their "tropical paradise" just before it snowed; most left shortly thereafter), a real estate boom and bust in the 1920's.
The Society preserves and presents two historical buildings which are in constant use for meetings, clubs, weddings and historical presentations, as well as offering trolley and boat tours focusing on the history of what, to many current residents, is a new and unknown land!