As a Home Watch provider, we want each of your return trips to Sarasota to feel as refreshing as the first. Here's a local outing to consider on your next visit!

Students returned to Sarasota County Schools on August 11. Before our kids re-entered the classrooms, we decided a warm-up learning session was in order. For years Miranda had been meaning to reconnect with Vickie Oldham, to share some of Sarasota's Black American history with our family.

Miranda met Vickie in 2016 when work on Newtown Alive and the Newtown Conservation Historic District (NCHD) was in its early stages. The community of Newtown was established in 1914, with 240 lots on forty acres "exclusively for colored people." Despite the Brown v. Board of Education ruling on school desegregation in 1954, aspects of life in Sarasota remained segregated well into the 1960s. In 1960, Newtown accounted for 7% of Sarasota County's total population.

As you might imagine, redevelopment caused by the resurgence of Sarasota's popularity over the last quarter century has threatened to erode Newtown's history and neighborhood ties. (Did you know that today the Rosemary District sits where Sarasota's first African American community, called Overtown, used to be?)

Vickie grew up in Newtown. In 2015, she returned home to lead a project that would document 100 years of the community's places, people, and events.

Vickie travels with a bag of "goodies" - historic materials that provide context to the rich stories of Newtown's residents.

The project requirements included a comprehensive report, an NCHD map, historic community markers, an educational walking tour, website and mobile app. With the stories, support, and assistance of many contributors, Vickie delivered - and interest in the project grew. Soon she began hosting trolley tours, made more intimate with resident testimonials and gospel sing-alongs. There were private spin-off tours for out-of-state visitors. And calls to save historic buildings.

One historic building was the former home of Leonard Reid.

Leonard Reid was instrumental in executing the plans of the City of Sarasota's founder and first mayor, John Hamilton Gillespie.

Preservation efforts for the Leonard Reid House were successful. In 2022 it was carefully moved to a new location, where it now serves as the starter structure for dreams of a bigger Cultural Campus that will showcase Black life and history. When we visited, there was a striking exhibit of portraits on display. The house is open for a few hours every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday - and for special programs throughout the week.

Possibly hopping on a Newtown Alive trolley tour soon...

The Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition is currently evaluating next steps for a larger space. One of their goals is to increase community awareness about Overtown, Newtown, and the efforts to preserve their history and culture. If you have an interest in history or social justice, we strongly encourage you to look into Newtown Alive and the Leonard Reid house! An easy way to start is with the self-guided walking tour. (And for a fascinating history mystery, check out "Looking for Angola.")