In 1972, Tampa Bay Buccaneers founder Hugh Culverhouse purchased the remaining acres of pioneering homesteader Bertha Palmer’s sprawling 80,000-acre holdings in mid-Sarasota County with the goal of developing a master-planned community with the highest commitment to environmental sensitivity.

The result is Palmer Ranch, at more than 7,000 acres Sarasota County’s largest master-planned community. Centrally located in mid-Sarasota County, it is bordered by Clark Road to the north and Bay Street in Osprey to the south. The community encompasses 34 distinct developments of widely varied price points (90-plus neighborhoods in all) accessed by wide boulevards beautifully landscaped with live oaks, royal palms, magnolias and more.

Long-established neighborhoods include the gated golf course community of Prestancia, whose 495 single-family homes and maintenance-free condos and villas wind around two TPC Prestancia championship golf courses; and Deer Creek, whose 485 homes are surrounded by abundant mature tropical landscaping. Palmer Ranch continues to grow, too, with six new developments along the south Honore Avenue extension toward Osprey.