If you'd like a trip to a slightly later decade while in Ellenton, stop by the Roaring 20s Pizza and Pipes restaurant (6750 N. U.S. 301; 941-723-1733), a unique eatery that offers performances on a mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ as well as a family food experience.

To see more of Manatee County's history with a small-town flair, visit Palmetto. Here you can walk its well-preserved Main Street and drive by its grand houses on Riverside Drive. The Palmetto House (1102 Riverside Dr.), now a B&B, was originally built in 1913 as the home of settler Julius Lamb. He ordered the house from the Sears & Roebuck catalog and received it complete and ready to put together. Nearby, at 1112 Riverside, is the 1900-era home of farmer J. Pope Harllee, who later became Palmetto's mayor.

The Palmetto Heritage Park (516 10th Ave.; 941-723-4991), with its 1914 Carnegie Library, contains exhibits of early Manatee County, an 1880s post office stocked with memorabilia and a typical 1930s house. The Manatee County Agricultural Museum is also under development here.

In nearby Parrish, the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum (941-776-0906) offers a train ride through rustic Manatee County aboard vintage railroad cars. Next, head to two other Manatee County museums: the South Florida Museum (201 10th St. W., Bradenton; 941-746-4131), featuring exhibits ranging from pre-history to more modern times; and the Powel Crosley Museum of Entrepreneurs, a restored 1920s estate now a museum dedicated to the inventive minds of early 20th century businessmen (8374 Tamiami Trail, on the Manatee-Sarasota line; 941-722-3244).

Manatee County's 1920 Anna Maria Island Historical Museum (402 Pine Ave; 941-778-1514) houses rare photos, maps and records from the turn of the century.

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