GAMBLE PLANTATION
HISTORIC STATE PARK

By Mike Miller September 14, 2025

OVERVIEW

Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, located in Ellenton, Florida, preserves an antebellum mansion and grounds.

The site includes the Gamble Mansion, a visitor center, and 16 acres of former sugarcane fields.

It focuses on 19th-century Florida plantation life. Visitors can tour the house, view exhibits, and picnic on the grounds.

The house is also available for weddings.

Gamble Plantation

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Major Robert Gamble Jr. arrived in 1844 after the Second Seminole War. He received 160 acres under the Armed Occupation Act.

Gamble built the mansion from 1845 to 1850 using local materials and enslaved labor.

The plantation grew sugarcane on 3,500 acres and enslaved over 200 people at its peak. It shipped crops to New Orleans. Debts forced Gamble to sell in 1856.

After the Civil War, Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin hid in the mansion in 1865. He fled to the Bahamas by boat from nearby.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy bought it in 1925 and donated it to the state. It opened as a park in 1949.

VISITING DETAILS

Gamble Plantation Historic State Park is at 3708 Patten Avenue, Ellenton, FL 34222, off U.S. 301 South. It is within 30 miles of Bradenton, Sarasota, and Tampa.

The visitor center is open Thursday through Monday, 9 AM to 11:45 AM, and 12:45 PM to 5 PM. Guided mansion tours run six times daily during those hours.

The park closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Parking is available on-site. Picnic tables are on the grounds.

Tours take about 45 minutes; arrive early for groups. Call (941) 722-1099 for tour reservations or updates.

INTERESTING FACTS

The mansion is the oldest building in Manatee County and the only surviving antebellum plantation house in South Florida.

Enslaved artisans built the mansion, including its tabby cistern that holds 40,000 gallons of rainwater.

Judah P. Benjamin left a pocket watch at the mansion; it was returned to his family after the war.

The plantation included a sugar mill destroyed during the Civil War, but the mansion survived fires and hurricanes.

The site is also called the Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, honoring the Florida Division United Daughters of the Confederacy.