Longboat Key Real Estate
Beach Homes in Sarasota - Barrier Island Real Estate
About Longboat Key
If you're looking for wide-open vistas, uncrowded beaches,
private communities, and great boating, golfing and tennis
opportunities, Longboat Key is for you. The approximately
6-mile long island lies between Sarasota Bay and the
Gulf of Mexico, and has become an international destination
as well as a favorite for visitors and residents from
the U.S.
Longboat Key adjoins fashionable St.
Armands to the south and quaint,
laid-back Anna Maria Island to the north. The entire
length of the island is navigated by
Gulf of Mexico Drive, a scenic boulevard first started
by John Ringling in 1925.
As you drive the length of Longboat,
you will see many magnificent residential towers on the
Gulf beach side,
and elegant private homes, some in gated communities, on
the Bay side. There are two championship golf courses that
comprise the Longboat Key Club as well as numerous yacht
basins, for Longboat is a boater’s haven. Upscale
shopping and fine dining are found on the island as well.
History
of Longboat Key
The history of Longboat Key includes that of the Calusa
and Timucuan Indians, who resided there in the 1500s--when
the Gulf of Mexico was six feet lower than it is today.
Longboat Key was initially settled by hardy pioneers
who were awarded land grants under the Homestead Act
of 1862.
Farming was extensive, with tomatoes, guavas, avocados
and citrus crops abundant. The steamboat Mistletoe, out
of Tampa, put in at Corey's Landing, at mid-Key, and Longbeach,
at the end of Broadway, to load crops and debark passengers
during the early 1900s.
The 1921 hurricane flooded the Key and ended truck farming.
That same year, Florida amended the Florida Constitution
to include under it Sarasota County--and Longboat Key was
divided in half: Manatee County in the north and Sarasota
County in the south.
During World War II, the center of the island was a target
range for Army Air Force pilots flying P-40s, B-26s and
B-51s.
Tourism rose in the 1950s, the Town was incorporated in
1955, and Condominium living began in the late 1970s.
Today, located on Longboat Key are about 1,500 single
family homes, 7,000 condominium units and about 1,000 tourist
accommodations--a far cry from the fourteen families the
Sarasota Times reported as residing on the Key in 1915.
For more information about Sarasota, Florida real estate contact us at 941.323.5605 or email
us.
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