Tag Archives: Sarasota Bay

Mullet fishermen: A journey from Carteret County to Florida

The salt mullet trade to Cuba began to fade at the end of the 19th century, however. In the 1880s and 1890s, the first railroads reached Tampa. The railroads then began to inch further into southwest Florida, opening up the fresh fish trade to other parts of the United States for the first time. Like so many in Carteret County, Miss Lela’s husband wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity. “So in July of 1911 we come on the sharpie to Morehead (City), me and him and our first two children, and then we got on the train to New Bern and stayed the night,” Miss Lela told Ben Green. They took the train to Tampa, boarded a steamer down the coast to Bradenton and then took a taxi to Cortez. “Once we got settled I liked it,” Miss Lela remembered. “But that first year I was still so homesick for North Carolina that I cried all Christmas Day.” photos, >click to read< 13:15

Cortez: Net Spreads and Stilt Houses

This week a judge ruled that a famous stilt of the coast of A.P. Bell Fish Company in Sarasota Bay, must be removed. For more than a century, the people of Cortez have made a living harvesting seafood from Sarasota Bay. In the 1880s, the area was settled by five fisherman from Carteret County North Carolina – Charlie Jones, Jim Guthrie and three brothers, Billy, Nate and Sanford Fulford. Back then, Cortez was known as Hunter’s Point,,, The men had a vision, one where they would live off the sea and sell their catch at market. When their plan worked, a slew of relatives, all from Carteret County, followed them down,,, >click to read< 11:11