Route #76 Manasota Key – El Jobean – Harbour Heights

Route #76 covers approximately 65 round-trip miles across southern Charlotte County, beginning on Manasota Key, a barrier island shared with Sarasota County. From the Gulf Coast shoreline, the route crosses Lemon Bay to the mainland and enters historic communities created during the 1920s land boom, including El Jobean, founded by developer Joel Bean along the Myakka River as an ambitious residential project.

The itinerary continues through vast urbanized areas where thousands of streets and vacant lots remain undeveloped, particularly around Port Charlotte and its surrounding bay. It connects planned residential centers such as Rotonda West, known for its circular layout, as well as communities like Deep Creek, Harbor View, and Harbour Heights, illustrating successive phases of growth and decline tied to real estate speculation in southwest Florida.

In its final segment, the route reaches the junction of the Myakka River and the Peace River, a river system recognized for its ecological and historical importance. Along the way, it passes through former Indigenous lands, protected estuaries like Lemon Bay Aquatic Preserve, and sites shaped by film history, railroads, and urban development, providing a documentary overview of the region’s cultural and geographic transformation.

This route can be found in Discovering Florida – Volume 4.