Newtown

For 55 years, from 1914 until around 1969, residents of the historic black neighborhood of Newtown were not allowed to swim at the beach. The placard below, placed at Lido Beach (the beach closest to downtown Sarasota), explains the history.

The Legacy Trail is a fantastic bicycle resource that has now reached Sarasota. Will Newtown have to wait another 55 years to safely access it?

Newtown is still predominantly black, and many families use bicycles as a primary means of transportation. Constructing the SRQ Legacy Trail extension would allow them to bypass the dangerous heavy industry zone through the Central Cocoanut neighborhood immediately to the south.