The Residents of Historic Spanish Point
WRITTEN BY LIZ REED
A wonderful place to visit, Historic Spanish Point encompasses 30 acres of outdoor history. You can spend a day walking through 5,000 years of human habitation, from massive shell mounds from 3000 B.C. to the Mrs. Palmer era of 1910-1950.
You will see beautiful flower gardens created by Mrs. Palmer, a church, a cemetery, a citrus packing house, and two homes on the 30 acres.
After the prehistoric time, the Webb family moved there and started citrus, sugarcane, and vegetable farming. They gave the area the name Spanish Point, as a Spanish trader told them about an elevated point of land on the bay.
Then, in 1910, came Mrs. Palmer a wealthy Chicago socialite who purchased the homestead plus thousands of acres for cattle ranching, citrus growing, and real estate development. The Webb homestead was part of the area that she chose for her 360-acre estate that she named Osprey Point. She preserved the pioneer buildings that you can see today.
In 1959, they began a three-year excavation of the archeological site. At that time, they uncovered an Indian burial ground. The bodies were sent off to be studied. Out of respect, the bodies have been returned and reburied in their original burial grounds.
In 1975, it became the first site in Sarasota County to be listed in the National Register.
Of course, there are a few ghost stories that go with the area.
The property’s church is Mary’s Chapel, named in honor of 20-year-old Mary Sherrill, who came to Webb Resort in hopes the climate would help her tuberculosis. She died a short time later, and it is said that at night you will hear the church bells ringing. A woman in white is said to wander through the small cemetery.
Mrs. Palmer is said to wander her gardens at night.
Historic Spanish Point asked the Paranormal Society of Bradenton to come help with their ghost tours they did before Halloween. What they wanted us to do was to do an investigation in Mrs. Palmer’s house, where their tours could come and watch or participate in an investigation. We requested to come out at an earlier time to do some investigating beforehand to see what activity we could find.
We started at the church and cemetery, which had nothing going on. So, we moved on to the Webb house. Outside, we picked up on our SLS camera (which shows a stick figure for humans or spirits) a figure leaning against a tree. It looks like he was playing a fiddle. We started to play “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
At that point, the figure really started playing the fiddle to the song. This amazed us because in the Webb house is a fiddle in a case that belongs to Mr. Webb. The more music we played, the more he would play the fiddle. When he left, we went to the Palmer house. Mrs. Palmer was letting us know she was there using our equipment to communicate with us.
There is a room that an artist uses. One paranormal group had said there was some evil that started throwing things at them. However, when we went in, we communicated with the spirit. He was a polite man who really just wanted to talk. I don’t know why they said there was something evil unless he didn’t like them, so he threw things at them.
For two weekends, we did the investigation in Mrs. Palmer’s house, so when the tours came in, we were in full investigation. We had a medium with us, and she was in full conversation with Mrs. Palmer. Our equipment was going crazy and when asked a question, she would light up our rem pod (a device that lights up when touched by spirits). Mrs. Palmer was making it light all the colors, which is a strong yes to the questions. She loved people coming to Historic Spanish Point but didn’t like anyone touching anything in either home.
The next weekend, the same thing happened. The tours were amazed how Mrs. Palmer would answer.
It was a wonderful time, and the heads of Historic Spanish Point even attended the tour, which we didn’t know, and they said our part of tour was the best.Selby Gardens has now bought Historic Spanish Point, so no more investigations, but it’s wonderful to know that the spirits are still there watching over their homes and the property. Thank you, Mrs. Palmer and Mr. Webb for the entertainment.