St. Armands Circle - "think outside the box and get into the circle..!" - a catchy advertising slogan that has helped develop this small island community into a tourist hotspot. Some 45 miles up the coast from our house, a pleasant drive takes us along route 41, the Tamianni Trail, through Englewood, Venice, Nokomis (home of the Tervis Tumbler) and into Sarasota. St Armand's Circle is a now a thriving community of bars, restaurants, shops, art galleries and vacation rental homes and is one of the most visited areas in Sarasota.
There are many restaurants here - Hemingway's Retreat, The Crab & Fin, excellent seafood, street dining like it should be and accompanied by the background music from a classical piano player - and my favourite, the Columbia Restaurant, a fine Spanish restaurant that specialises in steak and seafood. Superb food, amazing service and some of the best cocktails I've ever tasted. They also make and serve a mean Cuban Sandwich and delicious home-baked Cuban bread.
The art galleries are amazing and one such gallery, the Wyland Gallery specialises in commissioned glass work. One piece we viewed on our trip yesterday featured dolphins riding the crest of a wave. Standing some 6 feet high, this centre piece was made of "bullet-proof" glass with the dolphins hand-fashioed in pewter. $34,000 will secure this piece of unique art work...!
The art galleries are amazing and one such gallery, the Wyland Gallery specialises in commissioned glass work. One piece we viewed on our trip yesterday featured dolphins riding the crest of a wave. Standing some 6 feet high, this centre piece was made of "bullet-proof" glass with the dolphins hand-fashioed in pewter. $34,000 will secure this piece of unique art work...!
There are several ice-cream parlours offering an amazing choice of home-made ice-creams and sorbets and one establishment even makes peanut-brittle, which you watch being created in the store whilst waiting for your selection of ice-cream. St Armands has an interesing history and much of its background can be seen in the form of statues and plaques in the lovely park and surrounding circles.The development started in the early years of the 20th Century.
Visionary circus magnate John Ringling purchased the St. Armands Key property in 1917 and planned a development which included residential lots and a shopping centre laid out in a circle. As no bridge to the key had yet been built, Ringling engaged an old paddle-wheel steamboat, the "Success," to service as a work boat. His crews laboured at dredging canals, building seawalls, and installing sidewalks and streets lined with rose-colored curbs. In 1925, work began on a causeway to join St. Armands Key to the 
mainland. Circus elephants were used to haul the huge timbers from which the bridge and causeway were built.
One year later, amid much pomp and ceremony, both the John Ringling Causeway and Ringling Estates development opened to the public, with John Ringling himself leading a parade across the causeway and his Circus Band playing from a bandstand in the center of the Circle. Every hour there was free bus service from downtown to St. Armands for prospective buyers and sightseers. Even when busy, the Circle seems peaceful and quiet, offers a wide selection of places of interest, things to do and places to dine. One of the few places in Flordia where you will find roundabouts...!
One year later, amid much pomp and ceremony, both the John Ringling Causeway and Ringling Estates development opened to the public, with John Ringling himself leading a parade across the causeway and his Circus Band playing from a bandstand in the center of the Circle. Every hour there was free bus service from downtown to St. Armands for prospective buyers and sightseers. Even when busy, the Circle seems peaceful and quiet, offers a wide selection of places of interest, things to do and places to dine. One of the few places in Flordia where you will find roundabouts...!
