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Trees have always played a prominent role in the history of Eden State Ornamental Garden, located at Point Washington innorthwest Florida The area's huge pines sp.rked a thriving lumber industry soon after thewWar Between the States And the lumber community attracted the father of William H Wesley, who came in the 1870’s to serve as a Methodist minister, bringing his two young sonsWilliam Wesley, the youngest son, grew up at Point Washington, and went into thelumber business He prospered, and in 1895 built the huge house now known as Eden Mansion Today n is the trees surrounding the restored house that give it a distinctive characterThe reason the great o.'ks are here is because Wesley preserved them,” said Li. David Streeter, superintendent of the 11 acre state site, located a mile north of U S 9ft near Grayton BeachAlthough Wesley was in thelumber business, he was a man tielore his time He loved the live oaks, and preserved the trees around his house The lieutenant reflected a moment, and observed, Other great oaksare in this area, but the largest ones are probably right hereMrs Ollie Sue Butler, grand niece of Wesley and museum guide of the mansion, told an anecdote illustrating her great uncle’s love of the trees During the 1930’s, people in this area were poor, just as they were evervwhere in the SouthwBut quite a lot of boat building for fishermen was going on A builder wanted one of the tall, straight live oaks in the yard for a boat keelHe came to the house, and offered Mr Wesley $35 for the tree But the old gentleman flat I v refused Mrs Welsev followed the boat builder as he was leaving, and told him to come back later Willie will begone Wednesday Come then, and you can have the tree ’ Well, he came back, cut the tree and paid her $35 When Mr Wesley came home, he carried on so, you would have thought a relative had died ’’The trim matron, who lives close enough to Eden to walk to work, told another incident A limb was protruding over the house, so Mrs Welsey had a man come cut it. Even though Mr Wesley realized it needed to be done, it upset him They said he walked the floor like it was the birth of one of his childrenLuckily only one live oak was lost when Hurricane Eloise swept through the park last September And it was the youngest tree,” commented Lt Streeter Damage from fallen limbs and shrubs was extensive, however The site had to be closed to the public two months while debris was cleared by the upenntendent and his staff Today the garden looks spic and spanAn expert when it comes to gardening, Lt. Streeter, who has been with the state park service almost nine years, served perviously at the state's other three gardens He worked at Washington Oaks, below Marineland on the East Coast, Alfred B Maclay in Tallahassee, and Ravine at Palatka Also, he was superintendent of the Ponce de Leon Hotel grounds in St. Augustine before the Flagler system sold it.Because his father was with the U.Sattended schools in St. Augustine, New Jersey,California and Texas He himself was in the U.S. Marine Corps for eight years As a result, he doesn’t have an accent traceable to any particular region of the country After he came out of the service, he at tended the University of Florida•v.and St Johns Community CollegeWhen the superintendentcame to Eden in 1973, the staff had rounded up the last poisonous toad left by the movie crew, which used the mansion and garden as the setting for the film, The Frogs,” starring Ray Milland The toad had killed a dog. and was hiding under the houseAlthough a lot of the frogs were brought in for the movie, Eden has a lot of toads and frogs I have walked the grounds at night with a flashlight, checking the property, and have found hundreds of toads in a small area They would be chirping so, vou could hardlv hear yourself think ”The tanned, young-looking superintendent lives on the grounds in a former caretaker’s cottage, which he and his wife. Monna, call Little Eden ” The two youngest of their five children are still at home, and attend the same redbrick school house near Eden which Ollie SueattendedAlthough Ollie Sue was bom inDeFumak Springs, the not too distant county seat of Walton County, her mother returned to Point Washington during the Depression to rear her family. Mainly to have a garden, so wecould have enough to eat.” themuseum guide observed. Her mother, Mrs Evie Wesley Sallsman, is still living in the community, and at 82 is the oldest living native Much of the folk lore of Point Washington was absorbed in anatural fashion by Ollie Sue, as she was growing up in the community She remembers, as small child, watching her grandmother line caskets When anyone died, an old carpenter here would make the casket and bring it to mygrandmother to line. She would have it placed on wooden horses out under the trees where it was cool, and would line it I was only tall enough to peek into it on tiptoe My mother says that when she dies, she wants us to find a pine box for her ”Since she lived in the area, Ollie Sue knew Miss Lois Maxon. Eden’s former owner whobought the badly dilapidated house in 1983, restored it and furnished it with family heirlooms It was Miss Maxon who named the restored mansion Eden,” making it a shrineto her own parents The retired New York newspaper woman gave the site to Florida in 1971. She now lives in Gulf Breeze.Ollie Sue and all the residents of the community have only goodmemories of Miss Maxon. She was very kind and good Most ofthe children around here were from lower-income families. Miss Maxon would invite them into her house, so they had an opportunity to be around finefurnishings Ii showed them abetter side of life, being around such fine things, and gave them a goal to work for something better, so to speak.”She said Miss Maxon also gave piano lessons on her grand piano Ollie Sue is the mother of 19-year-old twins, a married daughter and son Her son, Gidtook lessons from theformer occupant of Eden, and is majoring in piano and also electronics in college It was while living two years in Japan when her first husband, now deceased, was stationed in that country during the Korean War that the museum guide gained her basic philosophy oflife and work that she applies toher job at Eden, ‘‘I made a lot of friends among the Japanese, visited them in their homes and came to know a lot about the country When service people needed anything, they would come to me for assistance.” Ollie Sue said, I discovered that if you want to know a subject, find out everything you can about it. Here at Eden I took Miss Maxon’s notes about the furnishings, and researched all I could find on the subject It has been very rewarding.”In her conducted tours of the mansion. Ollie Sue demonstrates this knowledge Usually she recounts the basic history of the lumber community and Eden before beginning the tour of rooms.Sketching the heyday of PointWashington's lumber industry, which lasted about 50 years, Ollie Sue tells how the shoreline around Tucker Bayou and Choctawhatchee Bay was important to lumbering, because a team of oxen could follow the shore, pulling a barge Water transportation then, she em phasizes Point Washington was a satellite operation, and Bagdad at Pensacola was the parent plant. Lumber was transported by boat Then a fire in 1918 destroyed the local umber mill, almost coinciding with demise of timberin the area ”Ollie Sue recounts how Mr. Wesley built Eden, how the house was old following the Westons’ death and h«w the next owner was interested onlv in thewproperty, so stripped the houseand left it empty and abandoned When Miss Maxon's role in the restoration of Eden is told, hereyes light upDuring her years of conducting tours, Ollie Sue has become an astute judge of visitors Some come out ofcuriosity, and are not interested in the era. house or anything Others come out of love for old homes. It’s a hobby, and many have visited almost every historic house in the nation You adapt your talk accordingly.She finds not too many men come alone, but are brought by a wife or girl friend. If a man comes along, he has a definite interest, usually the mansion’s architecture or some building detail.”One of the plus values of Eden for park personnel is the manybirds visiting the site. This hasto be one of the main stops for bird migrations to South America,” observed Lt. Streeter. But quite a few come here to stay. The migrating birds come each fall on their trip down, and back each spring enroute north ”Among numerous varieties they see are flycatchers, Indigo buntings and painted buntings, a small bird with a vivid coloration like a parrot. They also see many cardinals, robins and mockingbirds Eden is fast becoming one of the last oasis for this area, commented Ollie Sue Lt Streeter agreed Thiscoast is growing very fast, with Destin and Panama City Beach expanding this way.The lieutenant glanced around at the house, trees and grounds He commented, The averaget »MUSEUM GUIDE—Mrs. Otlie Sue Butler, museum guide and also grandniece of the huilder of Eden Mansion, stands at thefront door to welcome visitors.The restored mansion is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is 50 cents. Children under six are admitted free.SUPERINTENDENT—Lt, David Streeter, superintendent of Eden State Ornamental Garden, lives at the state site in aformer caretaker's cottage, which he and his family call Little Eden.” an expert horticulturist, he salvaged trees and plants damaged by last September's Hurricane Eloise.Hypertension DropoutsSubject Of SymposiumPhysicians attending a symposium on high blood pressure in Denver, Colorado were urged to assume active responsibility for systematically keeping patients under treatment, and for motivating them to continue daily medication and observation of blood pressure over many years.nprsAn in Florida do#»«n’l rlt;ali7P .Insonh A Wllher MI). Clinicalpatients are likely to develop heart failure, kidney failure or stroke, because they are not being treated,” he said Dr Wilber suggested that physicians make blood pressure checkups convenient, at low cost, and that a missed appointment procedure” be established that communicates to the patient the doctor'sPage 8A—PLAYGROUND DAILY NEWS, Friday Morning, July 9,1976Large Trees Survive YearsTo Grace Eden ’s SettingrtiiAnapplitmen (diagndisorc the so tor ca eleme ogy olInt(soundearlythoseemplcwordabdorgurgli Gas been lt;comm tered Abdoi gurgli develc becom years, report foam i ing the naturaBYFEVA
Newspaper Details
Fort Walton Beach Playground Daily News
Fort Walton Beach, Florida, US
Fri, Jul 09, 1976
Page 8
Full Page
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FL, USA 27 May 2020
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