Curry Family
Roberts Bay was named for Robert Roberts, who arrived in the area in 1871 and acquired property at the mouth of the bay. His land extended southward along the coast to the southern limits of the present City of Venice. Curry . . . — — Map (db m124899) HM
History of Nokomis
The early community between Dona Bay and Roberts Bay was part of a larger community known as Horse and Chaise. The name came from clumps of trees that reminded sailors of a horse and chaise (two-wheeled horse-drawn wagon). . . . — — Map (db m124898) HM
The original Johnson Chapel building, located on Church Street in Laurel, was moved in 1947 from the Missionary Baptist Church in Osprey to become the sanctuary for the Johnson Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Laurel. Naming the church for their . . . — — Map (db m124875) HM
Side 1
Knight Memorial
The original settlers of the area were Jesse and Rebecca Knight who came to the Venice area in 1868 with their children and 300 head of cattle. The Knight family settled south of Shakett Creek and north of . . . — — Map (db m146124) HM
Laurel Turpentine Company
As the turpentine industry spread through southwest Florida, landowners leased turpentine rights to contractors who hired operators for camps that would harvest gum from thousands of acres of pine woods. The Laurel . . . — — Map (db m125006) HM
One of the area's oldest educational institutions, the Nokomis School, was built in 1924 on Nippino Trail. The photo shows the two-room Mediterranean Revival style school.
Originally, children in grades one through eight attended the . . . — — Map (db m38372) HM
Shakett Creek
The naming of Shakett Creek dates back to the arrival of Jesse Knight's family to Nokomis in the late 1860s. They traveled overland from northeast of Tampa with covered wagons, buggies and mounted horses. When the group reached . . . — — Map (db m125018) HM
Turpentine
Early in the 20th Century, turpentine camps were established in Nokomis and Venice. Typically black laborers cut a V-shaped “cat face” in the bark of pine trees, from which gum oozed into a clay or tin pot nailed to the tree. . . . — — Map (db m124982) HM
Side 1
This marks the location of the Post Office established July 3, 1888 to serve the pioneer community of Horse and Chaise, begun in 1868 by Jesse and Caroline Varn Knight on high ground east of Dona Bay near Shake It Creek. The Post . . . — — Map (db m146019) HM
