Carole Munro

Braden River and Beyond Carole Munro

From its headwaters in the swamps and marshes of central Manatee County, Florida, the beautiful Braden River winds its way northward through oxbows and mangrove islands before widening to meet the Manatee River. This book is an historical journey along the Braden River and its surrounding watershed from pioneer times to the present. The Braden River and Beyond begins in the mid-1800s with the settlers who tamed the Florida wilderness to become the cattlemen, the lumbermen, farmers, and citrus growers. In the decades that followed, the population of central and southern Manatee County surged with generations of newcomers. They brought with them countless changes to the Braden River watershed and the lands called " Out East." This is the story of some of the changes which transformed the rural countryside into the suburban hot spot of Manatee County today.