Braden Castle

Dr. Joseph Addison Braden, a Virginia-born physician who came from Tallahassee to the Manatee River in 1843, acquired about 1100 acres and built a sugar mill about 2½ miles south of Manatee, then constructed his “Castle,” a large 2½-story building made mostly with slave labor from taby bricks of lime, sand, crushed oyster and clam shells, and water, using oak, hickory, and pine from the property and windows and doors brought from Mobile. The building had four large rooms, spacious halls, four large chimneys, and eight fireplaces. On Feb. 25, 1856, a party of seven Indians came to the Castle and fired on it, but Dr. Braden returned the fire with Major Gamble’s new repeating rifle, wounding one Indian, and they fled to their boat before ultimately being captured. After Union soldiers destroyed Braden’s sugar mill and his slaves were freed, he abandoned the property. In 1866 Gen. James G. Cooper obtained the Braden property and lived in the Castle until his death, adding the cupola from which an excellent view was obtained. The Castle was later abandoned again, then destroyed by a woods fire in the summer of 1903, leaving only the walls standing, and in 1924 Gen. Cooper’s grandson, J.J. Pelot, sold it to the Camping Tourists of America.

Bradenton, Florida · United States