I just love small town historical museums and this one was lovely. The volunteer that greeted us was full of stories about the area. He was anxious to show us photos of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The southbound span (opened in 1971) of the original bridge was destroyed on the morning of May 9, 1980 when a freighter collided with a support column during a sudden micro burst of wind, causing a catastrophic failure of over 1,200 ft. of the span. One car stopped 14 inches away from the edge but the story was the driver insisted on walking back to his car to get his golf clubs. 35 people died but he was not one of them.
He also told us the story of the move to consolidate four small towns into what is now the small town of St. Pete Beach. You can see from these photos, there was stiff opposition to the move. St. Pete Beach is different from St. Petersburg which is a much larger community.
There were some great before and after photos of the area as well as the early days of Treasure Island.
The last major hurricane to hit this area was in 1921 because Ian in 2022 took a last minute turn. It was a Category 4 and many suggest that if it had hit just 100 miles north, one of the most destructive hurricanes in American history almost certainly would have been even worse. It did massive damage to Ft. Myers Beach.
As you know by now, the Tampa area once again dodged a bullet. Idalia ended up hitting north of the Tampa area, at Cedar Key. And while Tampa faced flooding from the storm surge and some wind damage, it could have once again been so much worse. We have heard from the owner of our little motel that they are ok, no flood damage (which is a miracle) and just some cleanup from the winds was needed.
When we decided to leave two days earlier than planned because of the threat of a hurricane, we knew it was a smart decision. We don’t live here and felt the best things we could do was be safe and get out of the way. The traffic, had we waited any longer would have been really heavy and the bridges taking you out of our area were all closed.