Plant Sumner House
Any idea why we’re visiting this house first? Because it was the first house moved to Heritage Village in 1976!The Plant Sumner house was built in 1896 during the same period that Henry Plant was building his Biltmore Hotel in Clearwater. Have you heard of Henry? He was a big businessman, very involved with building railroads in the southeastern United States who also built some amazing luxury hotels, both helping the west coast of Florida become a tourist destination.This house is like several homes built by Plant for employees and their families to live in - overseers of his railroad and foremen of the hotel’s building crews. These families lived in style with running water, indoor plumbing and even electricity. This house had electricity before the City of Clearwater did! The power connection came from the Belleview Biltmore which had its own power source.By the early twentieth century it was felt that this house and others like it were taking away from the beauty of the exclusive hotel. Belleview officials sold some of these houses at low prices and required they be moved from the property.Robert Sumner, who served as a minister, dairy farmer and Belleair postmaster, moved into the home with his wife Julia and family in 1912. The family occupied the home for more than 40 years!
House of Seven Gables
Imagine sitting on the porch and enjoying the view when this classic and impressive late Queen Anne style home rested in its original location! Situated on the bluff in downtown Clearwater, you could feel the breeze from Clearwater Bay and maybe even glimpse a dolphin or two.Notice the many exterior features including an asymmetrical shape with wings and gables facing in multiple directions, an impressive wrap-around porch and gingerbread details. Walk through the porch around the home to find the front door where as a guest you would enter the formal living room. This elegant residence, built in 1907, contains 13 rooms, all with amazing detail and beauty. Interior paneling throughout the home features heart pine that hardens as it ages and is very termite resistant.For 6 decades many families and people made this place home! It all began as the vision of David and Mary Starr from Rockford, Illinois. The couple visited the settlement of Clear Water Harbor in early 1886 and purchased land on the Pinellas Peninsula. In 1896 the couple bought the land on which this home was built, waiting a decade to build their grand seasonal residence, completed in 1907.The Starr family owned the home until 1917. The House of Seven Gables served as a private residence, rooming house, and social club during the rest of its functional years.Compare the Plant Sumner House and House of Seven Gables, built in roughly the same time period (1907). Which house is larger? Looks more decorative?These two houses contrast with one another. While Plant Sumner was the “workingman’s house,” the House of Seven Gables was a second home for a wintering family of great means.
Safety Harbor Church
Built in 1905, this church building was in a central location in the growing community of Green Springs, renamed Safety Harbor in 1917. Strong winds during the October 1921 hurricane lifted the entire church from the ground and repositioned it elsewhere on the property, facing a new direction. It was left where it landed. Another hurricane in 1935 ripped off most of the roof. Amazingly, the current structure contains its original pulpit and altar rail.Early church members included pioneer of the upper Pinellas Peninsula, including the McMullen and Booth families. Churches during this time period shared pastors who travelled between a few locations to serve their members. Poor roadways along the Pinellas Peninsula made even these short distances somewhat dangerous and time consuming!After outgrowing the space, the congregation opened a new sanctuary in 1960 and converted this structure into Sunday school classrooms and office space. Unfortunately, church membership declined by the 1990s, and in 2002 after much difficult discussion, the congregation made a painful decision to close the church. After ninety-seven years, the church offered its final service on Mother’s Day of 2002.
McMullen-Coachman Log Cabin
Check out the oldest surviving building in Pinellas County - the McMullen Coachman Log Cabin, built in about 1852.Captain James P. McMullen and wife Elizabeth (Campbell) relocated here from Georgia, seeking a climate to help James recover from “consumption”, a lung disease also known as tuberculosis. To help his condition, McMullen built the house so plenty of air would flow through it, as he put it, with spaces large enough to throw a cat through! Now no one was throwing any cats, but you get the idea!Lots of fresh air was also available on the large open front porch and through the “dog-trot” breezeway.The McMullen family farmed citrus, raised cattle, built the first school and operated the earliest hospital from their home. Serving as a midwife, Elizabeth helped many area women deliver their babies here.The Coachman family, most of whom relocated from Georgia, purchased the cabin and surrounding lands in 1901. By the time they acquired the structure, it needed maintenance and improvements. Glass was added to the windows, the cracks between the logs were filled, and a kitchen, dining room and large back porch were added. They lived in the cabin through the 1920s, sometimes using it as a summer camp or storage area. The family added other structures on the land over time, and by 1937, operated the Kumquat Shop there.
H.C. Smith Store
Built in 1915 on the southeast corner of 6th Ave. South and Fifth St. South in St. Petersburg, this store served this growing area, including residents of Roser Park. Henry C. Smith established the grocery store in 1918. Shoppers came to this small store because it had everything – groceries, clothing and other necessities.It was a place to socialize and catch up on the latest news – and gossip – in the neighborhood! There were several businesses that were housed in the large and smaller side section of this building over time - a butcher shop, bakery and at one time living quarters for those who ran the grocery store. Presently, the structure showcases the general store, a small barbershop and post office as well as an automobile mechanic’s garage behind the store.This building had many different owners and names and for the most part was very successful until the 1950s. At that point, when small stores like this struggled to compete with downtown stores and air-conditioned shopping centers, this building became vacant with the neighborhood general store becoming a past memory.
