Parrish is an unincorporated community in northwestern Manatee County, Florida, United States.
The community is located near the intersection of U.S. 301 and State Road 62 and is part of the North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Parrish contains the Florida Railroad Museum, which operates weekend passenger rides round trip from Parrish about northeast to Willow.
Climate
History
Originally, the community was founded by William Iredell Turner who owned a plantation in the area prior to the Civil War. Soon afterwards, a small community was formed around the plantation.
The community was named for Crawford Parrish of Georgia along with his wife Mary Bratcher Vanzant. Shortly after he married her in 1841, Crawford moved south to Florida, on the banks of the Suwannee River, having slave labor on his plantation. In 1867, they sold their land and decided to move to present day Parrish which was, at the time referred to as Oak Hill. Crawford was a rancher and orange farmer. The Parish Post Office was established in 1879, effectively changing the spelling of the town’s name, until 1950 when the spelling was officially changed back to Parrish.
Compiled in the late 1930s and first published in 1939, the Florida guide listed Parrish's population as 721 and described it as "a citrus-fruit and vegetable shipping center".
