Palma Sola Botanical Park

The Manatee River is a 36-mile-long (58 km) river in Manatee County, Florida. The river forms in the northeastern corner of Manatee County and flows into the Gulf of Mexico at the southern edge of Tampa Bay. Wildlife in and around the river includes alligators, herons, manatees, dolphins, and fish such as bass, bluegill, catfish, and gar. Bull sharks are occasionally found in the brackish water near its low-lying outlet. The river includes the Upper Manatee River Canoe Trail for paddlers.

De Soto National Memorial, in Manatee County 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Bradenton, Florida, commemorates the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto and the first extensive organized exploration by Europeans of what is now the southern United States. The memorial includes 26 acres (11 ha), where the Manatee River joins Tampa Bay. It has 3,000 feet (910 m) of coastline; eighty percent of the area is mangrove swamp.

Perico Island is a small island just west of the Palma Sola area in Manatee County. It is a residential community with a hotel, marina, and several natural preserve areas.

Palma Sola is an unincorporated area of Manatee County, Florida, United States. The botanical garden in Bradenton, Florida is known as the Palma Sola Botanical Garden.

Neal Preserve is a 120-acre (49 ha) preserve in Manatee County, Florida abutting the southern portion of State Road 64 near the western approach of Anna Maria Island Bridge. The preserve contains one-half-mile (0.80 km) of shell and boardwalk trails and a 20-foot (6.1 m) tall observation tower.

Emerson Point Preserve is a 365-acre (1.48 km2) preserve in Manatee County, Florida, located west of Palmetto and at the western end of Snead Island.

Palma Sola Bay is a bay located at the western side of Florida, near Bradenton, Florida. The bay is part of Tampa Bay.

The Portavant Mound (also known as the Portavant Mound Site or Snead Island Temple Mound or Portavant Indian Mound) is an archaeological site on Snead Island within the Emerson Point Preserve, just west of Palmetto, Florida. On December 23, 1994, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Portavant Mound (or Snead Island Temple Mound) is one of fifteen or more "temple mounds" produced by the Safety Harbor culture (900–1725) found in the vicinity of Tampa Bay. The mound is four meters high, measures 45 m by 75 m at the base, and has a flat top that is 24 m by 46 m. Unlike other "temple mounds" around the Tampa Bay area, the Portavant Mound does not have a ramp to the top of the mound. There is a lower (one m high) platform, about 30 m by 30 m, that abuts the main mound. The Portavant Mound was made from soil mixed with debris from middens. Several other mounds, also consisting of soil mixed with midden debris, are near the "temple mound".The Portavant Mound site has been the target of a stabilization project to protect the mounds from damage from river erosion, looting, foot traffic, and exotic vegetation.

West Bradenton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The population was 4,444 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bradenton–Sarasota–Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Florida Maritime Museum is a museum, sponsored by Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Courts, located on 4 acres (1.6 ha) of land within the historic fishing village of Cortez, Florida.The museum tells a number of stories pertaining to all aspects of Florida’s maritime history. Exhibits include historic photographs, boat models, tools, instruments, and other historic artifacts. The museum also features a large collection of shells from the Gulf of Mexico. The museum is also home to a folk school that teaches traditional Florida skills and a research library with a variety of books, plans, logs, diaries, periodicals, letters, records and related archival material whose content is relevant to research concerning maritime subjects, with special emphases on Florida’s Gulf Coast.The museum is housed in a 1912 schoolhouse building at the 95-acre (38 ha) Cortez Nature Preserve at 4415 119th Street West. Other historic structures located on the site include the 1890 Burton Store, a wood cistern, and the Pillsbury Boat Shop.

Cortez, a census-designated place (CDP) in Manatee County, Florida, United States, is a small Gulf Coast commercial fishing village that was founded by settlers from North Carolina in the 1880s. The population was 4,491 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bradenton–Sarasota–Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Cortez Historic District is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on March 16, 1995) located in Cortez, Florida. The district is bounded by Cortez Road, 119th Street W, Sarasota Bay and 124th Street Court W.