Ormiston Colony and the Scottish Origins of the Town of Sarasota presented by the Caledonian Club of Florida West

At the end of December, 1885 a group of more than 60 Scots along with a few Brits sailed from Scotland to near the site of today's Marina Jack and stepped into a bad dream.  The group was called the Ormiston Colony, after the hometown of Sir John Gillespie, the president of the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company. For 100 pounds sterling, each family purchased a town lot and a 40-acre estate outside of town, with the expectation of starting their lives afresh in "Sarasota", an idyllic community on the tropical Gulf Coast of Florida.

They were told that a town would be waiting for them, but when the steamer came into Sarasota Bay, they could only see a few run-down shacks and no streets to speak of.  It was then that the colonists found out that the Town of Sarasota only existed on a map.

Please join the Caledonian Club of Florida West, and Josh Goodman, PhD, of the Sarasota County History Center to learn about the Ormiston Colony and the origins of the Sarasota of today.