BRADENTON, Fla. — Tucked inside a small, quiet 55-plus community in Bradenton sit the ruins of Braden Castle — a remnant of one of Florida's earliest sugar plantations.
Dr. Joseph Addison Braden built the two-story mansion in 1850. The city of Bradenton was later named after him. No known photos exist of Braden or his immediate family.
Braden owned a massive sugar plantation and used slave labor to build the mansion. Workers mixed lime, sand, and crushed shells to create what were called tabby walls — a construction method that proved remarkably durable.
Those sturdy walls protected settlers during a Seminole Native American attack in 1856. The Braden family left home in the 1860s.
The mansion stood alone until 1903, when a brush fire destroyed most of it. A tourist group purchased the abandoned ruins in 1924 and built small cottages around the castle for seasonal visitors. People still live there today.
In 1983, the U.S. National Register named the park a historic district.
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