Bat Fogarty Boat Works

The Fogarty Boat Works is one of several historical structures preserved at Manatee Village Historical Park.

In 1865, a storm blew the fishing vessel Grover G. King off its northbound course from Key West.

Captain John Fogarty sailed into the mouth of the Manatee River for protection. When the storm lifted, Fogarty liked what he saw. The wide river, natural harbor, abundant wildlife, large schools of fish, and woods thick with oak and cedar convinced him this was the place to live and launch his business.

A year later, John and his brothers, William and Bartholomew (also known as “Tole”), moved from Key West to settle in Manatee County. That marked the start of the boat-building industry in Manatee County.

The Fogartys claimed land grants totaling 135 acres between what is today Manatee Avenue and the Manatee River, between 26th and 37th streets west. The area became known as Fogartyville and included homes, a general store, bakery, small dairy, two churches, cemetery, warehouses, wharves and buildings for the construction of ships and boats. In all, seven Fogartys became ship captains and sailed ships from the Manatee River and Tampa Bay throughout the world.

At the age of 19, Tole’s son, also named Bartholomew and later as Captain Bat, built his first ship. For the next 60 years, Capt. Bat constructed hundreds of sailing ships, power vessels, small boats and skiffs the way his father and uncles taught him.

When Capt. Bat died in 1944, his family closed his boat yard. In 1993, the family willed the boat yard to the public. Restorers opened the building you see today to find its contents preserved as if in a time capsule: half-hull models, wooden patterns and molds, tools, equipment and belt-driven machinery, just as Capt. Bat left them.

This entry was written by Manatee Village Historical Park staff.