All that walking at Emerson Point Preserve worked up an appetite for lunch and I found myself at the Riverside Café, watching cloud shows and devouring the Dieters Delight.
“How do you like it?” the waitress asked. This is my first visit to the Riverside Café in Palmetto, a breakfast, lunch and dinner place with a distinct Greek flavor.
I’d done my homework, passed on the daily specials and went with the Dieters Delight. Yes, I know the name is not inspiring, grim actually, but it got good online reviews. My plate overflows with a superbly grilled, pounded chicken breast partnered with Greek salad and pita bread. What diet?
“Really good,” I mumbled around a bite. Nodding, she turned away with a knowing smile, the one that translates: “Yep, that’s why it says House Favorite on the menu.”
The restaurant, on dry land overlooking the river, is part of the upscale Regatta Point Marina, where slips are crowded with liveaboards, large boats and day charters. At the end of the main marina dock sits the multi-story Riverhouse Reef & Grill open for lunch and dinner.
While I sit outside at a table on the Riverside Cafe covered patio, overlooking both the marina and the Manatee River, I look up to see blue sky with a slow show of large white clouds moving east to west. Across the mile-wide river sits the brassy city of Bradenton known for its “come see Snooty and visit our beaches” promotions.
But here in Palmetto, off the main artery roads, life is a lot more laid back. No beaches to push. No planetariums to fill. But there is a Manatee Agricultural Museum inside Palmetto Historic Park on Tenth Avenue West.
And a historic district along the Palmetto waterfront is easy to overlook if not for the small brown and white heritage signs. There are entire blocks of elegant old homes sometimes sitting alongside modern condos.
Bicycle riders can cruise Riverside Drive and see the sights without fear of fast traffic.
A local told me: “Palmetto is beautiful and quiet.”
That works.
Palmetto is both beautiful and quiet
The Palmetto Riverside Bed & Breakfast, owned by Wim and Mieke Lippens, natives of Belgium, is one of the homes on the National Register of Historic Places. The rambling home faces the water, naturally, and was built in 1913 from a Sears kit.
In the seven years they’ve been innkeepers the B&B has gained a robust reputation as a prime wedding venue. It is easy to imagine a wedding party on the front lawn with a setting sun over the water as a backdrop.
Walk with the ancients at Emerson Point Preserve
On the quiet side, take a walk in the footsteps of the ancients at Emerson Point Preserve. Located at the west end of Snead Island, less than 10 minutes from Riverside Drive, the 270-acre preserve is state-owned and county-managed. There is no entrance fee.
Open from 7 a.m. to sunset (adjusted seasonally), signs everywhere remind visitors to take the closing hour seriously, as the gates are locked after sunset.
Standing under ancient oak trees draped with Spanish moss, I feel the suggestion of cooling breezes, tiny tendrils of air seductively suggesting the season is changing. It is September, summer is retreating and fall will find its way here soon.
That is good news as an Emerson Point Preserve park sign lists so many things to do – hiking bicycling, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, wildlife viewing and picnicking. Oh, and your dog can come as long as it stays on lead and you clean up. All of this is more fun in cooler weather.
The Portavant Temple Mound has a ramp up one side and down the other. Indians living here between 800 and 1500 AD threw their trash, including lots of shells, in one place. A shell midden began to rise. They added dirt and built a large center temple mound.
Houses of the most powerful people sat on the top of the mound. Curiously, every few years they burned everything down then built the mound back up again.
It drives archaeologists around the bend to say this but truthfully nobody really knows how these temple mounds were used. It was, after all, before cell phones, selfies and video recordings of what actually happened.
You and I, walking the mounds, become part of the mystery and the heritage at this place where the Manatee River, Terra Ceia Bay and Tampa Bay join together.
Speaking of mobile phones, Emerson Point Preserve has a mobile phone audio tour for prehistoric life. Dial 941-926-6813 enter 25 and pick a subject.
Or do what I did and just wander paths under the old gumbo limbo trees, the century-old oaks (what stories they could tell!), past stranger figs and wild coffee plants.
Naturally, all that walking led to lunch.
My waitress came and took away my iced tea glass for a refill, without me asking.
Oh, yes, my kind of place.
I’ll be back.
MORE TO EXPLORE
Old Cedar Key walking tour and more
Four travel journalists find great food on the open road
Discover Downtown St. Petersburg