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March 12, 2025
Sarah Armistead: How a Meddling Woman Helped Build St. Pete
Speaker- Jessy Breckenridge, Archives & Collections Manager at the St. Petersburg Museum of History
Sarah Craven Judge Williams Armistead
Meet Sarah Armistead, formerly Sarah Williams, formerly Sarah Judge, formerly Sarah Craven, also known as the "Mother of St. Petersburg". In her obituary, she is credited with holding the straws which her then-husband, John Williams, and Orange Belt Railway president, Peter Demens, drew to decide who had the right to name the city they had just founded—a story which later became a legendary coin flip. A story which we now know never happened. Why would Sarah lie? It's possible we'll never know. So maybe the better question is: who was Sarah Armistead? And what gave her the confidence to make claims like that?
PLUS, ENJOY A SPECIAL TREAT! Delicious cookies, compliments of Claudia's Heavenly Flan and Cakes in Clearwater. Always made from scratch, with the highest quality ingredients.
Admission is FREE. Donations cheerfully accepted.
