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Cherokee and Mc Clellan Park
Developed in the mid-1930's, Cherokee park transcends the times with its wide, quiet streets, gracious, traditional homes (some on waterfront lots) and tropical, mature trees. Many of the homes in this well-established neighborhood have been recently renovated by owners, among them professionals, executives and retirees. Originally a citrus grove and family estate, Cherokee Park is conveniently located just off Osprey Avenue, close to downtown and the beach of Siesta Key.
History of McClellan Park
Advertisements for McClellan Park promised a yacht basin on Sarasota Bay, a yacht and automobile clubhouse, grounds for lawn tennis and clock golf, and that "a fast launch from the Park will take you across the bay to St. Ormond's (sic) or Sarasota Key for surf bathing in the Gulf of Mexico." "Every lot adjoins or commands a view of the bay."
About 1913, Katherine and Daisietta McClellan bought property at the south end of Orange Avenue. McClellan Park was one of Sarasota's first planned residential areas, which the sisters designed as a "high class place of residence of a select and modern community." Its curving streets, cement sidewalks, and lots that included running water and septic tanks were a contrast to the usual grid patterned subdivisions with unimproved lots. They dredged out a yacht basin and swimming area. They built a bathhouse and a clubhouse. The landscaping included palm trees, and pergolas at the entrance. Advertised virtues of the area included assertions that "there is a greater concentration of actinic sunrays in this section of the country than in any other part of the world." The fishing is excellent, "one hundred and eight varieties from Tarpon on down are found here in abundance." "Great big lots" sold from $800 up.
The McClellan sisters named their park for their father, Dr. E. S. McClellan, an eminent physician who founded a tuberculosis clinic in Saranac, New York. A health officer, he used his knowledge of sanitary engineering when he planned Highland Park in Saranac.
Ten years later, the sisters sold the development, toured Europe, opened a tea room in the McClellan Park Clubhouse, and finally ran a gift shop in town.
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