Barrier island complexes typically consist of elongate and drumstick, shore-parallel islands, which are bounded by tidal inlets. The dynamics of barrier coasts rely on processes which interact to produce a specific type of barrier. Florida's west-central coastline has low tidal ranges and wave heights that combine with a wide range of tidal prisms to produce all types and sizes of barrier islands and tidal inlets. The study area extends from Anclote Key to Venice and includes transects through nine of these barrier islands. These transects have been located to provide coverage of each expected geologic set of conditions. Four to six vibracores were taken along each transect; a total of 48. A sedimentologic analysis was conducted on each core, which included a grain size analysis, determination of shell and organic content, and classification of shells and sedimentary structures. From this analysis, six Holocene facies and one subfacies were defined, as well as two pre-Holocene facies. They are Well-Sorted Sand (WSS) with a Mud-Laminated Sand (mls) subfacies, Shelly Sand (SS), Shell Gravel (SG), Muddy Sand (MS), Muddy Shelly Sand (MSS), and an Organic Muddy Sand (OMS). The pre-Holocene facies are Pleistocene Muddy Sand (PMS) and Residuum (R), which represents the weathering surface above the Miocene limestone. These facies represent different depositional environments. From these facies, stratigraphic cross-sections can be generated for each barrier island. These cross-sections include a profile across the transect, bedrock data, and core locations. These cross-sections permit categorization of each island into the wave-dominated, aggradational/transgressive type, or the drumstick, transgressive/progradational type. The cross-sections show that Anclote Key is an aggradational type barrier, Caladesi Island, Anna Maria Island, and Siesta Key are progradational barriers, and Sand Key, Indian Rocks Beach, Treasure Island, Longboat Key, and Casey Key are transgressive barriers. Stratigraphic models can then be made for Florida's west-central coast showing how changes in morphology can be traced through the development of each island. Relatively long-term trends in shoreline erosion and accretion can be identified by constructing geologic histories for the barrier islands. The identification of these trends is useful in predicting future trends in morphological changes, as well as predicting the future migration and stability of the barrier island chain.