The Grove Museum

The Grove, or the Call-Collins House, was built for Richard Keith Call by enslaved people and completed around the year 1840. A close friend of protégé of Andrew Jackson, Call married Mary Letitia Kirkman at The Hermitage in Tennessee in 1824. Filled with political ambitions of his own, Call was elected to Congress and served for a few years. In 1825, he and Mary decided to make their home in Florida and purchased a total of 640 acres. This would become the site of The Grove, which took over a decade for the enslaved people to build.

Richard Keith Call eventually served as the third and fifth territorial governor of the state of Florida, his first term being from 1836 to 1839, and his second being 1841 to 1844. A year after leaving his seat as territorial governor, Florida became a state and Call decided to run for governor. After the unsuccessful bid, Richard Keith Call decided to retire from life in politics and pursue his interests in agriculture. He also made the decision to leave The Grove, giving it to his daughter Ellen Call Long, and relocated to another plantation home. Richard Keith Call died in 1862 and was buried at the family cemetery located at The Grove. Call's will stated that the 197 enslaved people he owned would go to his daughters.

The historic home would remain in Call's family all the way down to his granddaughter, Reinette Long Hunt. Upon her death, the house went to some distant family members who had little interest in keeping up the house, so they sold it. In 1942, Mary Call Darby Collins, the great-granddaughter of Richard Keith Call, decided she and her new husband LeRoy Collins would like to live in the family home. The two became very active in Tallahassee society, and LeRoy Collins went on to serve two terms as governor of the state. During his time as governor, LeRoy and Mary lived in the "old" governor's mansion, which is located next door to The Grove. In 1956, the "new" governor's mansion was completed and the Collins would not return to The Grove until 1970.

In 1985, Mary and LeRoy Collins made the crucial decision to sell The Grove to the state, with a stipulation saying they could continue to reside there until their deaths. They also requested that the home be a museum honoring the governors of Florida. LeRoy Collins died in 1991, and his wife would follow in 2009. After Mary's death, The Grove was placed in the hands of the Division of Historical Resources and a long renovation on the antebellum Greek Revival Style home began. Finally in 2017, The Grove Museum opened to the public after undergoing an expensive renovation under the helm of the Florida Department of State. The longtime private residence is now a premier public museum. Today, only around 10 acres of the original 640 acres remains, the rest having been sold in the past for the family to keep the property.

Visitors walk down a winding path surrounded by magnificent oak trees with Spanish moss draped over them to come to the 10,000 square foot antebellum style home. The majority of the house still possesses the same feeling it had at the time it was built in the 1800s, with the exception of the sunroom that was built in the 1950s by Governor LeRoy Collins and his wife Mary. Tours of the home are unique in the fact that they begin in the basement, with its low wooden ceilings still wearing the marks from the 1830s when enslaved people began building it. The basement later served as LeRoy Collins's office, and he was a major civil rights proponent.

In addition to telling the story of slavery and the emergence of the civil rights movement, The Grove Museum also tells of several generations of strong women in the Call and Collins family. The reason the home still stands today and the museum is in existence is due to the women in the family who were resourceful, appreciative of history, and aware of the family's significance. It is this rich history that makes The Grove a unique site in Florida's capital.

Thacker, Kim Harris. There Is A Place To Call Home At The Grove Museum, Tallahassee Magazine. March 5th 2018. Accessed February 23rd 2021. https://www.tallahasseemagazine.com/a-place-to-call-home-at-the-grove-museum/.

DeHart, Jason. The Grove Reborn, Tallahassee Magazine. January 2nd 2013. Accessed February 28th 2021. https://www.tallahasseemagazine.com/the-grove-reborn/.

Richard Keith Call, The Grove Museum. Accessed March 1st 2021. https://thegrovemuseum.com/learn/history/call/.