Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL:  Another really nice day today.  After lunch we went back to the Gamble Plantation to take the tour.  Construction of this Greek revival style mansion was started in 1843.  At one time Gamble owned 3500 acres.  His was the largest sugar mill in the area.  He owned 180 slaves.  Everything was done by the slaves—including the building of the mansion.  After the tour we came back and relaxed reading for a while.  Another cold front is supposed to come through tomorrow and bring the temperatures down quite a bit.  Hopefully Ft. Myers won’t be too bad.  And we’ll be in the Keys in just a few days.  Low 80s today.  More left-over turkey tonight for dinner.

Gamble Mansion & Plantation
Oldest antebellum plantation in south Florida