Manatee Village Historical Park is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
The park opened July 4, 1976 — the nation’s bicentennial — to preserve Manatee County’s early history, from 1840 to 1918. Its historic and replica buildings sit on nearly 4 acres shaded by century-old oaks, next to the county’s oldest cemetery, the 1850 Manatee Burying Ground.
Exhibits include the 1903 Wiggins General Store, the 1912 Stephens Settler’s House, the 1913 steam engine “Old Cabbage Head,” the 1887 Methodist Episcopal Church, the 1908 Bunker Hill Schoolhouse, the 1860 courthouse and the Fogarty Boat Works, which holds original tools and equipment. Replicas of a blacksmith shop and the Harllee Barn round out the grounds.
A July 11 celebration featured music, food and a blacksmith talk.