February 6, 2017 – Monday
We continue to be amazed at the hidden gems along the Florida Panhandle. Today we visited Eden Gardens State Park, a place of tranquility that was once the home of the lumber magnate, William Henry Wesley. Mr. Wesley’s family lived at the stately Southern-style mansion until the death of Mrs. Wesley in 1953. At that time the mansion fell into disrepair and became known to the local neighborhood children as “The Ghost House.” I wonder how many of us remember such a place, I know that growing up in the country we had a big red brick house, fallen on bad times, that we referred to as “The Haunted House.” My haunted house continued to fall into disrepair but fortunately, for Floridians and visitors, a wealthy New York journalist, Lois Maxon, fell in love with the mansion and grounds. She purchased the estate in 1965, renovated the mansion, improved the grounds by adding azalea and camellia gardens, and added a reflecting pond. The mansion now contains her family heirlooms and a collection of Louis XVI furniture said to be the second largest in the country. In 1968, she donated the land, the house and all of its contents to the Florida park system. Outside of the mansion, the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance has created a shoreline trail to lead you through the park’s diverse vegetation to its “Living Shoreline.”
(Click on any picture to open the slideshow.)
