The Village of Cortez, a tiny fishing village, offers slice of rustic Old Florida. Taking a left turn off of Manatee Avenue into the tiny village of Cortez is like driving back in time to Old Florida.

It's a sprawl of clapboard bungalows on narrow roads lined with palm trees and live oaks. On the waterfront are fish processing plants and seafood restaurants, while the docks are a hive of activity as fishers unload their catches -- grouper, snapper, shrimp, stone crab and pan fish -- to be sold fresh. The village boasts that 25 percent of the fish caught on the Gulf coast comes into these docks.

Cortez is not a large place. It's about 3.6 square miles and its population in the last census was about 4,500. You can walk through the village in a few minutes.

Join the restaurateurs, locals and fellow tourists who visit A.P. Bell to purchase wholesale grouper, snapper, shrimp, stone crab and pan fish. One can also sit at one of the outdoor picnic tables of the Star Fish Co.'s dockside restaurant and enjoy a panorama of blue water, fishing boats and seagulls and pelicans sitting atop pylons, while digging into an order of mullet or conch fritters, washed down with draft beer from a plastic cup.

Nearby, Annie's Bait and Tackle is a saloon like no other: a weather-beaten, ramshackle place that sells everything for the angler, plus beer, wine and seafood. It's a great place to meet the locals.

Pretty well everything in Cortez has some relationship to the sea. The N.E. Taylor Boatworks Museum chronicles 75 years in the life of the boatyard. At Sea Hagg Nauticals, you can browse among anchors, fishnets, antique buoys, diving helmets, glass-blown fish, watercolors of seascapes and hundreds more items, all for sale.

Don’t worry ... there's no danger of "modernization" spoiling Cortez, for the entire village (97 buildings) has been put on the National Register of Historic Places, and that limits development.

History

Billed by the Manatee County Historical Commission as the coast's "last surviving fishing village," the town's name likely comes from an early Spanish fishing "rancho."

Originally called Hunter’s Point, Cortez was settled in 1890 by the Guthries, Bells, Taylors and Fulfords, some of the first families who came from Beaufort, N.C., according to lore. Many of their descendants, like Fulford, still live in the village. The community was one of the most important suppliers of seafood on Florida's Gulf Coast, with the catch being shipped to Cuba to the South and the northern U.S.

The Cortez Schoolhouse

The Cortez Schoolhouse was constructed in 1912. The building was the second schoolhouse for the community of Cortez, which was established in the 1880s as a fishing village. It originally housed two classrooms and in 1933, an auditorium with a stage was added forming a T-shaped floor plan.

Now almost completely restored the building serves as a museum providing local history and environmental education programs. It is also home of the annual Florida Gulf Coast Small Craft Festival, held in April

N.E. Taylor Boatworks

Built in 1914, Taylor Boatworks was responsible for many of the wooden boats that fished the waters around Cortez. Now the home of Alcee Taylor, son of founder N.E. Taylor, it is a museum of thousands of interesting maritime artifacts.

Things to do

Take a self guided tour of the village and see a glimpse of Florida as it should be.

Sit on one of the public docks and look for the brown and white pelicans, herons and other water birds.

Watch the fishing boats unloading their catch or preparing for a trip.

Pick up fresh seafood in one of the markets on the water.

Visit one of the gift shops and see native crafts and art.

Take a cruise with one of the ecology tours. Be sure to bring your camera.

Build a boat at the Florida Maritime Museum.

Visit the N.E. Taylor Boatworks Museum.

Eat a grouper sandwich at Star Fish Company or Annie’s Bait & Tackle.

Listen to live music at Cortez Kitchen, a favorite outdoor gathering spot for locals and tourists alike.

Attend a festival: the Florida Gulf Coast Small Craft Festival in April. Or if you’re here in February, attend the annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival when the village of 4,500 welcomes up to 15,000 visitors. There's plenty of seafood, of course, plus arts and crafts stands, musicians, artists and artisans, clog dancers and all the hoopla you'd expect from one gigantic street party.