The Sunshine Skyway Bridge over the mouth of Tampa Bay as it crosses from Manatee to Pinellas County, Florida on a sunny afternoon looking northeast. This was taken from the South Fishing Pier State Park. The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was built in 1954 to connect St. Petersburg in Pinellas county with Terra Ceia in Manatee County and replaced the ferry berween point Pinellas in Pinellas County and Piney Point in Manatee County. That stood until the morning of May 9, 1980 when in a sudden, blinding thunderstorm the inbound freighter Summit Venture veered from the main ship channel into one of the secondary bridge supports causing the collapse of over 1200' of the southbound lane of the bridge into Tampa Bay. A number of vehicles, including a bus couldn't avoid the void and fell into the waters of the bay following the bridge, resulting iin the death of 35 people. What remains of the old bridge was made into fishing piers on both the north and south sides of the bar.

The current span, a cable stayed bridge with 174' of clearance, wasx begun in 1982 and completed in 1987. It is considered by many as Florida's signature bridge. Pinellas County controls the northern entrance to the bridge, Manatee County the south, and Hillsborough County controls the main ship channel and the center span of the bridge.

The Port Boca Grande Lighthouse,built in the 1890's and restored in 1986, sits in Florida's Gasparilla Island State Park at the southern tip of the island.

The Port Boca Grande Lighthouse,built in the 1890's and restored in 1986, sits in Florida's Gasparilla Island State Park at the southern tip of the island.

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse in Volusia County, Florida is the tallest lighthouse in the state.

Florida's Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse is nestled in a grove of trees beside the Atlantic Ocean.

Built in 1887, Homeland, Florida's Homeland Methodist Church is thought of as the mother of the methodist movement in central Florida and was in use until 1974.

Known as the Palace of Florence it is a three-story version of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio and is located on Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida. It was designed in 1924 as an apartment retreat by architect M. Leo Elliott., Tampa's most noted architect. The most dramatic features are the high square tower and the gran center stairway leading to the second floor entrances.

This small country church sets just off the beaten path in Linden, Florida on an April 2016 morning. The people passing nearby on state road 50 probably don't even know that its there.

A large ranch style house with a wonderful wrap around porch sits in a grassy meadow on an April day in Linden, Florida in 2016.

Everytime I paased this house on County Road 640 just before the junction with US 17 in Homeland, Florida, I admired its architecture that speaks of a time gone by. A small community, home to approximately 366 people, located half way between Ft. Meade to the south and Bartow to the north, Homeland predates the American Civil War. Home to a school and several churches in the past, it now has a post office and general store along with a Historical Heritage Park that houses the school that closed in 1956, one of the churches and several other historical buildings. The park is used to teach elementary children in Polk County about the history of the area.

Everytime I paased this house on County Road 640 just before the junction with US 17 in Homeland, Florida, I admired its architecture that speaks of a time gone by. A small community, home to approximately 366 people, located half way between Ft. Meade to the south and Bartow to the north, Homeland predates the American Civil War. Home to a school and several churches in the past, it now has a post office and general store along with a Historical Heritage Park that houses the school that closed in 1956, one of the churches and several other historical buildings. The park is used to teach elementary children in Polk County about the history of the area.

The 776' long wooden Anna Maria Island City Pier was built in 1911 by George W. Bean's and Charles Roser's Anna Maria Beach Co. to lure wealthy visitors on Steamboats and paddleboats from Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Bradenton, Florida to the island hoping that they would invest in land there.

Today the pier and wharf extends 736" into Tampa Bay and is the host to a restaurant, bait shop, and any number of fisherman on any given day. It's a great place to fish, get a drink or a bite to eat.