The House of Seven Gables, built in 1907, moved to Heritage Village in 1977. David N. Starr, of Rockford, Illinois, originally built the home as a retirement home for his family. Over the course of its life, this house served a variety of purposes from a second home to a boarding house, and now a historic home that aides in interpreting Pinellas County history. This Queen Anne style home includes thirteen rooms all clad in heart of pine. The interior reflect the height of modern, Edwardian tastes, and the seven gables of the roof lend the home its name.
The Plant-Sumner House was originally located near Henry B. Plant’s Belleview Hotel, now the Belleview Biltmore. This vernacular Victorian home was built around 1896, the included modern amenities that such as water, plumbing, and electricity. In the 1930s, the modern kitchen and side porches were added to the structure.
The community of Safety Harbor, once known as Green Springs, represented an early settlement site along the Pinellas Peninsula, near the Odet Philippe homestead and the Bay View community. Early church services in the area were held at Sylvan Abbey Methodist Episcopal Church by 1886, but gatherings ended at the Abbey after 1900. The 1888 pulpit was brought from the Abbey to this structure. The wood for the church came from E. H. Coachman’s sawmill, once located on a site within present-day Philippe Park.
This reproduction bandstand is a replica of the former Williams Park Bandstand built in 1890 in St. Petersburg, Fl.
This authentic sponge warehouse was originally located at 122 Roosevelt Blvd. in Tarpon Springs and was built around by Drosos Alahuzos. This building was part of his family's wholesale sponge business, that was primarily based out of Philadelphia.
The pavilion recognizes Anson P. K. Safford (1830-1891) for his contributions to the Tarpon Springs area. A native of Vermont, Safford moved to the West and served in the California State Assembly and later as Governor of the Arizona Territory. He panned for gold while in California and also worked as a surveyor in Nevada. He died in Tarpon Springs in December 1891. He came to Florida and became involved in the speculation that took place in the 1880s after Hamilton Disston’s land purchase. Anson and wife Soledad Bonillas (a native of Mexico) started the first Catholic chapel and school in the area. She became involved in the creation of Tarpon Springs’ Woman’s Town Improvement Society in the early 1890s. Anson’s sister, Mary J. Safford, came to the region in 1883. The Saffords originally stayed with Mary Ormond Boyer, her father (A.W. Ormond), and her husband (Joshua C. Boyer). The Ormonds, Boyers, and Saffords formed a close friendship during the early years of Tarpon Springs’ history. Anson’s Tarpon Springs home has been restored and now serves as a museum.
Joshua and Mary Boyer built this honeymoon cottage near Spring Bayou in Tarpon Springs. The newly wed couple erected this simple 14' x 14' square as a temporary structure until they could build a more permanent dwelling. The Boyers lived in this cottage for approximately twenty-one years, from 1877 until 1898. Many sources credit Mary Boyer for giving Tarpon Springs its name in 1879 or 1880. The cottage is representative of wood-frame Gulf Coast vernacular architecture. The small structure is characterized by board and batten siding and a high-peaked cedar shake roof. The cottage moved to Heritage Village in 1978.
History of Site before House was Built Original location near Clear Water Harbor was close to early core of the small community that evolved into present-day Clearwater. Construction Information Built in the 1880s on Turner Street, near Clearwater’s harbor. Originally designed as a three-room house, with bedroom and living room in the front, and a dining room/kitchen area in the rear. Additions to the structure (present-day kitchen, bathroom, and storage areas) appeared after the house moved from Turner Street to 503 South Greenwood Avenue. Maps indicate that some additions had occurred by October 1929. History of Occupants Earliest recorded owners located to date: D. F. and Emma Crawford (through February 1926). Leland and Nannie Waldrop acquired the house from the Crawfords. Genealogical records link these families together. Other occupants (possibly renters) before 1940 included Stephen and Carrie Griffith, Bartow and Mattie Blanton, and William Maddox. Leland and Nannie Waldrop resided in the structure until 1943, when Louis and Bernice Fulopp purchased the home. The Fulopp family owned the structure until sold to Rehabilitative Associates and Clearwater Limb and Brace in 1982. Then located near a convenience store, the property was better suited to commercial activities rather than use as a personal residence. The new owners donated the house and moving costs so that the Greenwood House could move to Heritage Village. For many years since its arrival at Heritage Village, the Greenwood House served as the offices of the Pinellas County Historical Society. The kitchen area of the building has served as a staging area for occasional events, such as Holiday celebrations sponsored by the Historical Society.
Reproduction boat shop based on Clark Mill's boatshop in Dunedin. Showcases boats and sailing history.
George Washington Moore was born in 1845, the year Florida became the twenty-seventh state, in Bedford, Virginia (now part of West Virginia). He met wife Francis A. Meador while living in Virginia and had two children while living there. He arrived in the Pinellas peninsula in 1875 and established his residence in the Clearwater-Dunedin area. His three younger children are natives of Dunedin. His father also came to the area in 1875. Both George Washington Moore and his father died in the same year, 1887. In 1879, he built the Moore House near the present location of Highland Avenue and Sunset Point Road. Though census records of the 1880s note his occupations as Blacksmith and machinist, he also started an orange grove and cultivated crops. During this period, landowners operated under the “open range” system that allowed their cows, hogs, and other animals to roam freely. While on a business trip to Tampa in 1887, Moore caught yellow fever and died there shortly thereafter. Although the epidemic left Tampa under quarantine, only two Pinellas peninsula residents (including Moore) died from the outbreak. Son Moffet W. Moore played an important role in the Dunedin business community for many years. His jobs included making cement blocks, operating a feed store, delivering ice, making ice cream for commercial sales, manufacturing cigar boxes, operating the Dunedin cemetery, and engaging in real estate. He helped to organize the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce on 18 February 1926. It is believed that a member of Arthur Lewis Duncan’s family brought grapefruit from the Odet Philippe plantation to cultivate in the Dunedin area by the 1890s. Daughter Effie married Arthur Horace Duncan (not known to be a relative of A. L. Duncan), an entrepreneur who developed Clearwater Nursuries (with his twin brother, Albert N.) and served as postmaster at the Keene post office. Arthur was born in Keene, New Hampshire. Their children (G. W. Moore’s granddaughters)—Gladys and Elsie Duncan—visited the Moore House on many occasions after the family sold it in the early 1900s. During their childhood, the Moore Home sat far away from the small communities that existed along the Gulf. Duncan employed workers on the grove for about fifty cents a day. Many slept on hay in the lofts of a big barn. An 1882 Sunland Tribune lists participants at the second annual Fair of Western Hillsborough, held in Clear Water. Members of the Duncan family took many awards for farm products. G. W. Moore won an award for the best vehicle, a one-horse wagon. Files indicate that members of the Coachman family also owned parts of the original parcel that served as a grove into the mid-1900s.
History of Education in Tarpon Springs before Structure Arrived at U.A. Campus The 1885 constitution of Florida mandated segregated education. A simple wooden structure for white schoolchildren began operating in Tarpon Springs by the 1880s. A small “Negro school” served African American children in Tarpon Springs before Union Academy opened in 1919. Original Union Academy campus opened at a time of great racial hostility in Florida; within a few years, brutal attacks and lynchings took place in Ocoee, Perry, and Rosewood. Violence by the Ku Klux Klan increased during the 1920s. Despite the “separate but equal” provisions of case law and court decisions (including the 1896 judgment in Plessy v Ferguson by the U.S. Supreme Court), a wide racial disparity existed in school facilities, teacher salaries, general funding, and length of school terms for African American schools. Many white educators and public officials believed that any educational opportunities for Black children should fall within the areas of training for agricultural and domestic service. They often cited Booker T. Washington’s emphasis on practical and manual skills as a proper path for Black students. Schools for African American children stressed industrial education and welcomed philanthropy to compensate for inadequate funding. Despite laws requiring segregation, principals at Union Academy regularly invited “the white friends of the school” to events. White patrons often enjoyed reserved seating for events at Union Academy, an act that was not reciprocated by white schools for African American residents.
Went into service in 1917 at the Belleview Biltmore Hotel.
The home, a board and batten structure, largely the work of Wesley Lowe, contained pine and cypress. The two-story building certainly stood out along “The Narrows” and in the Anona area after its construction in 1888.
The barn, constructed in 1912, replaced a smaller barn that once sat on the Lowe property. Some of the wood may have come from an earlier structure.
Exact date of construction remains unknown, though it was built no later than 1852. Most family sources place 1852 as the year of construction, though other sources mention earlier years. It was possibly the second (or later) structure occupied by the McMullens, who had certainly established some sort of shelter shortly after the time of their arrival on the peninsula. Captain Jim’s family—along with some slaves from the area—cleared the land and constructed the house. This double-pen log house has pine logs originally joined by pegs rather than nails. Large open porches, a broad stairway, and excellent ventilation (including openings between some of the pine logs) made it easy for James P. McMullen to overcome bouts with consumption (tuberculosis). He wanted cracks “large enough to throw a cat through” to get sufficient fresh air. The upper story had its own breezeway. Much of the original furniture was made from nearby materials (including the Spanish moss mattresses).
History of Site before Actual Structure was Built Original school built in eastern Lealman community at 4600 Haines Road. In the early 1900s, the Lealman area had few settlers and remained decidedly rural in character. Earlier schools in Lealman area (but not on the same site) included the “Hammock” School (opened 1880), Lealman School Number One (built 1898), and Lealman School Number Two (replaced the1898 structure in 1908).
Located along southern boundary of original (August 1888) town plat of St. Petersburg. Land once owned by “General” John Constantine Williams, Sr. Part of “Williams Grove” on original town plat. Land was subdivided and sold in parcels after Williams’s death in 1892. Former Williams House (built in 1891) later became Manhattan Hotel, a nearby source of customers for the business. The Williams House presently resides on the campus of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Improvements to nearby Bayboro Harbor and Salt Creek brought more settlers, as did the creation of Charles Roser’s subdivision, Roser Park.
McMullen House: A Brief Introduction Construction Information This is the second oldest structure in Heritage Village, built in 1868. Original home site was along Rosery Road. The family moved into the house in August 1868. They lived close to Lake Largo, a beautiful lake at the time. The town of Largo was named after the lake, a body of water drained during the early 1900s and used by many farmers (including McMullens and Jesse Ancil Walsingham) as a site to cultivate crops. This structure, presently at about 1450 square feet, includes additions made over the years. The original home, built of native pine, had two formal rooms and two “shed” rooms connected by a breezeway.
Land held by McMullen family as early as 1868 when William McMullen secured a large tract along present-day Ridge Road. Also held by Charles W. Johnson and family. Like members of the Lowe family and Joshua Boyer, “Captain” Johnson had frequently sailed between Cedar Keys and Key West. The O’Quinn family, along with McMullens, held title and occupied land between the late 1870s and 1913. Marriages between McMullen, O’Quinn, Lowe, and Walsingham families connect these families and their land holdings in the Largo area. Mary Adona O’Quinn, William McMullen’s granddaughter, married Jesse Walsingham. Jesse’s brother married a member of the Lowe family. Construction Information Jesse Walsingham purchased this land in 1913, and the two-story home was built in 1915. This was a notable structure along the frontier where most people were farmers and laborers in citrus fields.
Only structure at Heritage Village to come from a location outside Pinellas County.
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Heritage Village is an open air museum that is dedicated to preserving and interpreting Pinellas County history. The park covers twenty-one acres of Florida's iconic palmetto and pine landscape. The Village is home to over 30 historic structures that have been relocated to the museum from various parts of Pinellas County. The buildings range from an 1850's pioneer log cabin to a 1930's Sponge Warehouse.
