Spanish moss hangs from live oaks, fluttering in the breeze from nearby Manatee River. Benches, a gazebo, and boardwalk along the water make this park in Bradenton a peaceful place. Pause a little longer to read the historical markers and you’ll learn that the area is more than a just a pretty place for a picnic.
In the early 1800s when the Spanish controlled Florida, the area was a sanctuary for freedom seekers escaping British and American slavery in Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas. A natural freshwater spring and fertile soil was the birthplace of Angola, a maroon community of formerly enslaved people living in harmony with the Seminole Indians. Sometimes called “Black Seminoles,” the community of about 800 farmed, fished and lived together peacefully for over a decade.
Kirsten Harrington 