Planters Home

The Lion's Storyteller Stop 3

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

30.44004, -81.43766

Significance:

Oldest Plantation Owners Home in Florida

Amenities

1 listed

Information

Built in 1798, this historic building is the oldest standing plantation house in the state of Florida. Built by enslaved craftsmen, the home was occupied by plantation slave holders for many decades and Northen planter's in the post Civil War years. The building became part of the Army Navy Club and later the Fort George Club in the early 1900s. When the site became a state park in the 1950s, the building was furnished in largely purchased antiques not orignal to any of the former owners. As the site became a National Park Service location, this building bacame the bookstore.  

Years of heavy traffic through an older building, the wear of time and humidity, along with termite damage forced the building to close.  

Open House Tours

Today, the building is open for limted touring during open house hours. Check the park calendar for dates. Weekend open house self-guided tours are available from 10:00 am-12:00 pm and 2:00 pm-4:00 pm. Rangers or volunteers will gather people on the porch for a short program, then open the historic structure for you to wander through. Visitation is limited to protect this fragile structure.