South Creek Trestle
In early 1900 Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) controlled 2,600 miles of track stretching from Virginia to Florida. In 1911 SAL constructed a 16.5-mile extension from Sarasota (Fruitville Junction) to Venice. The bridge over South Creek is one of the remaining trestles built in 1911. The trestle is located at mile-marker 897.6. Approximately 125 feet long, it is an open deck, timber trestle. The current length of the new bridge is 175 feet and supports The Legacy Trail. As you traverse The Legacy Trail, note the mile markers present to reflect the original railroad mile markers starting from north to south. Mile marker 0 is located in Richmond, Virginia.
Oscar Scherer History
In her will, Elsa Scherer Burrows (1884-1955) left the family's 460-acre South Creek Ranch to the state in memory of her father Oscar Scherer (who invented a process for dyeing leather in 1872). After a year of preparation, Oscar Scherer State Park opened to the public in 1956.
Three decades later, local environmentalists began campaigning for the state to purchase and protect adjoining Florida scrub habitat. With help from The Nature Conservancy, Sarasota County and wide public support, the state purchased an additional 922 acres from Palmer Ranch in 1991.
The park now preserves more
than 2 square miles of natural land in a rapidly developing region and provides resource-based recreation for over 112,000 visitors annually.
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