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Families To Discuss Pioneer Homes

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By STEVE KORNACKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2007

LARGO - LARGO - The House of Seven Gables, an elaborate Victorian mansion that once provided a view of Clearwater Harbor from the bluff near downtown, now stands amid the towering pines and live oaks of Heritage Village.

Ditto for the oldest structure in Pinellas County, the McMullen-Coachman log cabin built in 1852. A Tarpon Springs sponge warehouse, a beach cottage and an old country store are also part of the neighborhood at the 21-acre history park.

The buildings have been arriving here by land and by sea for three decades, and from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday they will be inhabited by descendants of pioneer families. They'll talk about the people and places that established the county before and after its break from Hillsborough County in 1912.

It's part of Heritage Village's 30th Birthday Bash and the Historical Society's Country Jubilee. Live country music and more than 125 crafters and food vendors will entertain an expected 12,000 visitors, according to village historian and publicist Ellen Babb.

"The genesis of Heritage Village began with the country's bicentennial movement in 1976," Babb said. "There was a real interest in preservation and history at that time."

The Clearwater Junior League was seeking a new location for the Plant-Sumner house, thought to be built in the mid-1890s by railroad tycoon H.B. Plant for some of his supervisors. The home had been marked for destruction to make room for a high-rise building in 1975.

The junior league lobbied county commissioners to provide a site, and the county complied, designating a spot south of Ulmerton Road and just north of Walsingham Road for a county park to house history.

It opened in 1977 with Plant Sumner, House of Seven Gables, the log cabin and the Lowe Barn. Now there are more than 25 historical structures, and reproductions of the Harris School and Williams Park bandstand. All except the Sulphur Springs Train Depot, which came from Hillsborough County, are from Pinellas.

"Few, if any of the buildings, were in good shape," Babb said. "Nearly all of them required significant rehabilitations. And in the past year, they've all been painted in colors that the houses once were."

Connie Allen, a village tour guide from Indian Rocks Beach, pointed to a place where paint was scraped off the wooden wall of a back room in the McMullen House. It revealed a blue undercoat that was copied when the house was recently repainted.

"From the day it was built in 1868 until it was donated in 1992, this house was in the McMullen family for an amazing 123 years," Allen said. "It was located in Largo off Missouri Avenue near where the K-Mart is now."

Daniel McMullen built the house just after the Civil War, during which he supplied part of his cattle herd to support Confederate troops. He also grew cotton, sugar cane, citrus and vegetables. His great-grandson, Robert J. McMullen, 94, a former poultry farmer and feed store owner, will be among descendents speaking to the public.

The log cabin belonged to Daniel's brother, James, and stood near the corner of Old Coachman and Northeast Coachman roads in Clearwater, not far from where Bright House Field is today.

"Jim and Daniel married sisters Elizabeth and Margaret Campbell," Allen said. "Jim was sent down here to die comfortably with tuberculosis but recovered. He credited the Florida air. They raised 11 children in this log cabin."

While that is the most humble dwelling in the village, the House of Seven Gables is the most elaborate. It was built by David and Mary Starr of Rockford, Ill., some of the area's first snowbirds.

It made its way to Heritage Village via a barge ride down the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater to Indian Rocks Beach, and was then transported on a huge flatbed truck.

"We're so fortunate to still have these places," Babb said. "We want people to see the thread of Pinellas County history through the stories of these buildings."

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or
skornacki@tampatrib.com.

A CELEBRATION

WHAT: 30th anniversary of Pinellas County Historical Society's Country Jamboree & Heritage Village

WHEN: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Heritage Village, 11909 125th St. North, Largo

HOW MUCH: Free admission and parking (donations accepted); (727) 582-2123

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