Tidy Island was first visited by early Americans around 500 BCE and inhabited by them as late as 1100 CE.
In contrast to the barrier islands that separate Sarasota Bay from the mainland, Tidy Island’s geology is like that of the mainland. Increasing sea level probably changed it from a peninsula to an island. A 1921 hurricane started it on its way back to a peninsula.
It took until the late 19th century for the construction of the first house on the island in our era. This location is marked today by a museum that is also a reproduction of this first house.
Tidy Island before the 1921 hurricane
An 1883 map of Sarasota Bay shows Tidy Island, but does not name it. It does name Cow Point, as do modern maps. The north end of Long Boat Key is on the left. Otter Island is now part of Sisters Key.
Patrick Grable surveyed the island in 1906 in order to purchase it from an earlier resident. But he left for South America not long after, so the island was again unoccupied until its development in 1982. Fisherman used the water between the island and the mainland. The labeled features on the 1883 map are still seen on later aerial photos.
After the 1921 hurricane
The 1921 Tampa Bay hurricane changed Tidy Island. Its storm surge carried sand right over the island, nearly filling the shallows between it and the mainland. The nearby Cortez fishing village was under eight feet of water.
After the hurricane, mangroves began building up the shallows, making the island more of a peninsula and less of an island. Salt flats formed along the margin between the original island and the new mangrove swamp.
The County dug ditches to control mosquitos in the ’50s and again from the mid-’60s to mid-70’s. It’s not clear if they helped with the mosquito problem, but they did a great deal of damage to the mangroves. Would-be developers built a road, bridge and causeway in the mid-’50s, but they were washed away. They also tried to dig channels through the island from the lagoon next to the causeway, one going north, the other west. But limestone just below the surface stopped that.
The 1970 aerial photo shows a dredged channel on the southeast shore. The spoil was dumped along the island shoreline, destroying the mangroves there.
In addition to all of this, the developer partially enclosed the lagoon on the north side of the island in an unsuccessful attempt to fill it. The idea was to create more buildable land. Fortunately (for Tidy Island), the fill was never available. These failures saved the island from the development of the ’60s and ’70s that destroyed most of Sarasota Bay’s natural shoreline environment. The finger canals just north of the island, shown by the 1970 aerial photo, are an example of what might have been.
Tidy Island today
The ’80s development Tidy Island was sensitive to the island’s unique environment. The developer gave New College of Florida the northern two-thirds of the island for ecological research. He also established a preservation area to protect the salt flats. Today the Tidy Island Condominium Association owns the residential part of the island and the preservation area. It maintains the island museum and extensive archaeological exhibits, as well as two burial mounds used between 200 and 1100 CE.
This contemporary aerial image of Tidy Island shows physical features visible on the 1883 map. The rock outcrop supports the bridge at the island causeway. The cove appears as a change in terrain.