We try to keep this list of historic house museums for Florida current, but it is best to check directly with the museums for their hours and other information. If you know of a historic house museum in Florida that should be listed here, please use our submission form to let us know about it.
Coconut Grove
Need an Image for ID# 1130
The Barnacle
Coconut Grove, FL 33133
Phone: (305) 442-6866
Admission Price: Park Admission $2 ages 6 and up; Tours $3 ages 13
Hours: 9a-5p, Wed~Mon, except New Years, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Days
This beautiful house with a whimsical name dates to a simpler time. The Barnacle, built in 1891, offers a glimpse of frontier life during The Era of the Bay, when all travel to and from Miami was by boat. Situated on the shore of Biscayne Bay, this was the home of Ralph Middleton Munroe, one of Coconut Grove's most charming and influential pioneers. Munroe preserved the forest on his land, cutting out only a winding buggy trail through the hammock—barely wide enough for one vehicle. As a result, the property contains many large, old trees. Left in its natural state, The Barnacle Historic State Park appears much as it did in Munroe's day, complete with replicas of two of his sailboats: Egret, a 28-foot (8.5m) sharpie ketch, designed in 1886, and the Flying Proa, designed in 1898. It is a great place to enjoy simple pleasures: A tour with new or old friends; a picnic on the lawn; walking with the family dog down a tree-lined path; or just rocking in a chair on the spacious front porch and watching the sailboats go by.
Eustis
The Clifford House
Eustis, FL 32726
Phone: (352) 483-0046
Admission Price: Free
Hours: See their website
This impressive home, located on the shores of Lake Eustis, has eighteen rooms and two great hallways. The floors are double heart pine with cypress wood used throughout, Plaster of Paris walls, six fireplaces each with imported Italian tile and beveled glass on the doors and mantels. All the light fixtures, hinges and door knobs are brass. The original copper wire screening is still on all the windows and doors.
Fort Lauderdale
Bonnet House Museum & Gardens
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Phone: (954) 563-5393
Admission Price: Adult $20, Senior $18, Children $16
Hours: 10am-4pm Tue-Sat, 11am-4pm Sun
The whimsical ambience of Bonnet House is a product of the creative synergy that existed between Frederic and his wife Evelyn and the happiness and comfort they experienced in one another. Though the strictest preservation standards are practiced, the house still feels as if the owners had just stepped out. All the furnishings and ephemera on exhibit are original to the estate.
Key West
Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum
Key West , FL 33040
Phone: (305) 294-1136
Admission Price: Adults $12, Children $6
Hours: 9am-5pm Daily
The house was built in 1851 by Asa Tift, a marine architect and salvage wrecker, and became Ernest Hemingway's home in 1931. The house still contains the furniture that he and his family used. The cats about the home and grounds are descendants of the cats he kept while he lived in the house, including many extra-toed (polydactyls), like the one Papa Hemingway loved.
Orlando
Need an Image for ID# 582
Harry P. Leu Gardens
Orlando, FL 32736
Phone: (407) 246-2620
Toll Free: (352) 483-0048
Admission Price: Adults: $7, Children K-12: $2, Children <4: free
Hours: Gardens: 9-5 except December 25. House: tours every 90 minutes starting at 10.
The Leu House Museum is a restored 19th century home listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Four families owned the property before it opened to the public. Leu Gardens demonstrates plant materials suitable for cultivation in USDA Zone 9b. The climate of Central Florida permits Leu Gardens to grow and enjoy a wide array of temperate and tropical plants. Leu Gardens teems with vigor and beauty, regardless of the season. Discover palms, cycads and flowering trees. Enjoy azaleas, vines, bromeliads, and tropical philodendrons. Appreciate the sight of familiar annual flowers and the beauty of roses and camellias. Stroll under the awe-inspiring branches of camphor trees, elms and oaks.
Port Orange
Gamble Place
Port Orange, FL 32128
Phone: (386) 255-0285
Admission Price: $6 adults, $5 seniors, $3 children 6-17.
Hours: 10am-5pm Friday and Saturday
Guests to Gamble Place can step back in time to experience the same pristine environment that James Gamble found so inviting during his first visit to the area in the late 1800's. James N. Gamble, of the Procter and Gamble Company and a long time winter resident of Daytona Beach, bought this land on Spruce Creek for use as a rural retreat. Included in the estate are a main cracker-style house, orange packing house, life-size replica of Snow White's Cottage, and witch's hut as well as nature trails.
Tallahassee
Knott House
Tallahassee, FL 32301
Phone: (850) 922-2459
Admission Price: Contact Museum
Hours: See their website
Built in 1843, probably by free black builder George Proctor, the Knott House was first occupied by attorney Thomas Hagner and his wife Catherine Gamble. The house served as temporary Union Headquarters in 1865, where Brigadier General Edward McCook announced the Emancipation Proclamation.