Hartley House was built between 1914 and 1919. It now holds the Palm Harbor Museum at the corner of Belcher and Curlew Roads, and it is older than the name Palm Harbor itself. According to the Pinellas County historic district guide for Old Palm Harbor, the settlement began as the Bay St. Joseph post office in 1878, became Sutherland in 1888, and took the name Palm Harbor only in 1925.
On Saturday, Nov. 7, the museum holds its annual Wine Around Palm Harbor fundraiser on its grounds from 4 to 7 p.m. Seven wine and food tables will each stand for one of the area's historic communities: Palm Harbor, Curlew, Sutherland, Ozona, Crystal Beach, East Lake and Wall Springs. Read in order of age, that list makes a map. Most of the place names on it are older than the one on your mailing address, and each left something you can still find.
The names, in the order they appeared
| Community | Earliest date in the record | What it was called along the way |
|---|---|---|
| Curlew | 1869, church and cemetery | Named by settler John A. Sutton |
| Ozona | 1875 homestead, 1882 plat | Yellow Bluff until 1888 |
| Wall Springs | 1876, state sale to Charles F. Wall | Health Springs from 1927 to 1949 |
| Sutherland | 1888 post office | Bay St. Joseph before that |
| Crystal Beach | 1912 town plat | Homesteaded from the 1850s |
| Palm Harbor | 1925 | Sutherland until then |
| East Lake | Post-World War II growth | No founding date in the local histories |
Two changes landed in 1888. That year Bay St. Joseph became Sutherland and Yellow Bluff became Ozona. Wall Springs went through two renamings of its own in the 20th century. For much of its history, this stretch of north Pinellas renamed itself whenever it wanted a new identity.
Curlew is the oldest name you drive on every day
In a local history by USF historian Jim Schnur, John Alexander Sutton arrives in 1868. In late 1869 he founded Curlew Methodist Church and its cemetery on land he donated. The name came from the pink birds Sutton saw, and it spread from the church to the settlement around it.
Today that church is Curlew United Methodist Church, at 2213 Cathedral Drive, with Curlew Pioneer Cemetery beside it. The museum calls it the oldest church in Pinellas still standing at its original location. The museum and the USF account both date the cemetery to 1869, while a 2008 countywide cultural resources survey lists it as circa 1850. The museum lists the Jenkins, Sutton, Whitehurst, Riggs and Gause families among those buried there.
The road carries the name too. Thomas W. Hartley built his house, along with a citrus ladder works, on a trail that is now Curlew Road. Pinellas County reported that the state historical marker outside the house notes it served travelers on that route. The marker was dedicated on July 19, 2025, after what the museum describes as a ten-year process led by Palm Harbor Historical Society volunteers working with county historians.
Sutherland lasted 37 years and left a scandal behind
The county guide credits J.C. Craver with the Sutherland name. He was postmaster of the Bay St. Joseph post office, and in 1888 he got a new commission under the name Sutherland. His general store became the center of the new community. In Schnur's account, the name honored the Duke of Sutherland, who built a home near Lake Tarpon in 1887.
The Duke's story is the museum's current feature exhibit, "Marriage and Mayhem in the Sunshine State." It follows his marriage in Dunedin to Mary Caroline "May" Blair and the scandal in British society that followed, which the museum says upset Queen Victoria. The exhibit includes artifacts visitors can touch.
Sutherland's physical footprint is the downtown along Florida Avenue. The county describes Old Palm Harbor-Downtown as the original settlement's commercial district and a former center for citrus and higher education. When you walk Florida Avenue, you are walking Sutherland. The Palm Harbor name came 37 years after the town was laid out.
Ozona changed its name to change its reputation
Ozona started out as Yellow Bluff. The Ozona Village timeline records Walton Whitehurst's 1875 homestead as the first there, has Yellow Bluff platted in 1882, and dates the change to Ozona to 1888. It links the renaming to the old name's association with yellow fever. Schnur adds that residents hoped "Ozona" would suggest clean, healthy air.
Few of the seven communities have kept more of their original fabric. The Ozona Village history page points to:
- Ozona Village Hall at 341 Bay Street, built by local women around 1900
- The 1916 red-brick schoolhouse that still stands at Ozona Elementary
- Orange Street, which was the old Dixie Highway, where the old route to Tampa began
- The arched Shore Drive bridge, known locally as the "Thrill Bridge"
- The old street names Bay, Lemon, Mississippi, Orange, St. Louis and Virginia
A Yellow Bluff Pier once stood at the west end of Bay Street, but the fish house and dock were removed in the 1960s.
Crystal Beach borrowed its name from Ontario
Pinellas County records homesteading in Crystal Beach from the 1850s and a 1912 town plat by A.D. Powers and J.D. Hanby. The Crystal Beach community association says the name came from the resort at Crystal Beach, Ontario, and credits Avery and Rebstock with the early development. Those names are still on the map in Avery Avenue.
The 1912 plan is still visible as well. The county's Crystal Beach overlay recognizes the grid of streets, Gulf Drive, Live Oak Park, and the public shoreline path called Gulf Shore Park, which runs along St. Joseph Sound from Ohio Avenue to Georgia Avenue. Sources disagree on when the park itself came about. The county ordinance says Live Oak Park was set aside in the early 1960s, while the community association presents it as part of the original development.
At the end of Crystal Beach Avenue, Live Oak Park has a pier and a marker for a building that is gone. As recorded on HMdb, the marker identifies the site of the Blue Heron Hotel, also known as Faith Mission, on North Gulf Drive just south of Avery Avenue.
Wall Springs went through two names
The state sold the spring to Charles F. Wall in 1876, and it became a bathing and recreation spot. The Wall Springs Park history marker records that it was renamed Health Springs in 1927, went back to Wall Springs in 1949, and closed to public bathing in 1966. The Pinellas Trail now runs on the old railroad corridor that once brought visitors to the spring. The springhead, the boardwalk and the four-panel marker are at Wall Springs Park, 3725 Desoto Boulevard.
East Lake's history is the newest chapter
East Lake doesn't have a founding story to match the others. Schnur's history describes East Lake and Palm Harbor as moving from rural country toward urban development after World War II, and gives no founding date or name origin for East Lake. Its best-known landmark is a landscape, not a building. John Chesnut Sr. Park covers 255 acres beside Lake Tarpon at 2200 East Lake Road South.
East Lake belongs on the list for that reason. The other six tables stand for places that were named, platted and sometimes renamed before 1930. East Lake's table stands for the postwar growth that filled in the space between them and made one unincorporated area out of what had been separate settlements.
Where to start this fall
The museum's November calendar covers most of this ground:
- Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m. Genealogical researcher Sue Cobb presents "Beyond the Headstones: Honoring Those Who Served" at Palm Harbor Library, 2330 Nebraska Ave. The talk covers veterans buried at Curlew Pioneer Cemetery, from a War of 1812 veteran to four hometown men who died in service. It's free, with no RSVP needed. The Tampa Bay Beacons preview lists her as Susan Cobb.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 4 to 7 p.m. Wine Around Palm Harbor, with the seven community tables, a silent auction and $45 tickets. As of Oct. 22 the museum said only four tickets were left, and the event often sells out.
- Any Thursday, Friday or Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit the Palm Harbor Museum at 2043 Curlew Road for a free docent-led or self-guided tour. Donations are welcome. The grounds also have the historic Citrus Grove House, Florida native plant gardens, a wind phone and a picnic area in a camphor tree grove. Park and enter from Curlew Road.
According to the same Tampa Bay Beacons article, the museum is also a drop-off point for FEAST Food Pantry this holiday season, taking nonperishable food from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday through Saturday.
Which of these seven communities your street started in tells you a lot about your home: how old the street grid is, what the nearby landmarks are, and why the road names are what they are. If you're thinking about what your home is worth, Julia Horton can walk you through how its location fits Palm Harbor's history and its current market. Get a Free Home Valuation.