Museum Hours

 

January-April: 10am to 4pm

May-December: 10am to 1pm

Closed Sundays and Mondays

Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.

 

What to Expect

 

Historic Pine Avenue

The museum and park are located at 402 Pine Avenue in Anna Maria City. Historic Pine Avenue is a recently restored downtown area featuring cottages dating to the early 1900s and many shops and restaurants. Food, drinks, and places to cool off in the summer are readily available and in short walking distance from the museum.

 

The Museum and Historical Park

The museum and park have four components located on the same property: the museum and gift shop, the old City Jail, Belle Haven Cottage, and the Mangrove Walk. All of these components are in short and easy walking distance of each other.

• The museum offers exhibits on various aspects of the island's history. Most visitors spend about 10 to 20 minutes browsing the exhibit. Docent-led tours of the exhibit are free and available on request. Scavanger hunts are also free and are available in the gift shop. The gift shop sells local artwork, books by local artists, tee-shirts, hats and other items.

• Belle Haven Cottage is only accesible with a docent guided-tour. Docents in the museum are happy to take visitors over on request.

• The Mangrove Walk and the old City Jail are open from dawn until dusk. The Mangrove Walk is a short trail through a native plants garden with an outlook over Lake LaVista. The old City Jail is the building that served as a jail from 1927 to the late 1940s.

 

Restrooms and water are available in the main museum building.

 

The museum and Belle Haven are wheelchair accessible.