Anna Maria Island Historical Society reopens Tuesday after renovation
ANNA MARIA -- The Anna Maria Island Historical Society reopens this week after over a month of renovation work.
The museum nestled at 402 Pine Ave. will have a soft opening at 10 a.m. Tuesday. AMIHS President Maureen McCormick said there are plans for an official grand opening in November.
"We're thrilled. We want to be back in business," she said. "We have a lot of visitors who come to the island and we don't want to tell them we're closed. We also want the residents and community to come out and see it."
The museum's renovation and upgrades include the opening of the front door, making it much more accessible to the handicapped, and new environmentally friendly windows that protect the collection.
There is also a kiosk of maps and aerial views of the 7-mile barrier island -- and new exhibits.
"It's telling the same story of the history of the island, but in a much more chronological way. In the past, it had a lot of different stories but not always in the order that they occurred," McCormick said. "We didn't have a timeline before, but now we have that."
The individual stories of each city on the island -- Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach -- are also told.
"We have many artifacts that people have given us," said Lynn Brennan, a resident of Anna Maria who has been an AMIHS docent for the past two years. "We also talk about early life on the island... it flows."
According to a news release, AMIHS' renovation was made possible by gifts and matching grants from the following: Manatee County Tourist Development Council; the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs; Elizabeth Vann and The Historic Green Village; the Mary E. Parker Foundation; and the Edward E. and Lillian H. Bishop Foundation.
Back in July, McCormick told the Bradenton Herald the museum is getting so many more visitors than it's ever had in the past, and she and others at the museum would like to make it a better experience for them.
Brennan said she tried to visualize what the museum would look like once renovation work was completed.
"Probably the most exciting thing about it is meeting different people from all over the world. We have so many people that come here from United Kingdom from Germany, South America. ... It's just phenomenal the people that come here," she said. "They come here and they're so in awe of the museum. They say they wish they had a place that tried to preserve the history of their region."
Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter@AmarisCastillo.
This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Anna Maria Island Historical Society reopens Tuesday after renovation ."