A visit to the Anna Maria Island Historical Complex is a trip back into Florida history. The Island has a vast and rich history beginning with its earliest times as an Indian fishing camp, to the arrival of the Spanish in 1530, to the Island's first homesteader George Emerson Bean in 1893 and his son Wilhelm's development of the first tract of land along with "Fig Newton" inventor Charles Roser.

The Anna Maria Island Historical Society's [AMIHS] beautifully restored complex interprets the Island's history through its museum, City Jail, Belle Haven [cracker] Cottage and the Mangrove Walk's indigenous garden.