Arcadia Homestead

Cassie Brown
Posted: 7/24/2020

In March 2019, the Arcadia Mill Historic Site opened a new historic site near their preexisting historic industrial site. The Arcadia Homestead sits on about seven acres where an 1830s plantation estate once sat. Since the house burned down about ninety years ago, the site includes a 1930s historic house, a small garden, and exposed archaeological remains of the plantation house and outbuildings.

The original plantation house was built in the 1830s and overlooked the industrial complex interpreted at the Arcadia Mill Archaeological Site. E. E. Simpson, one of the owners of the industrial complex, used the house as his summer home for him, his wife, and their thirteen children. After he died, his son C. H. Simpson took over the farming on the property. He eventually married Anna Fitzgerald and they lived in the historic house with their three children. In 1935, on a breezy March day, a spark from the chimney blew onto the roof and the house quickly burned to the ground. During the fire, the family managed to save some of their furniture and treasured valuables, but once the fire reached the guns and ammunition stored in the nursery, they had to flee to a safe distance. Since the fire occurred during one of the worse economic times the country has ever seen, the family had to quickly rebuild with almost no money. They took wood and supplies from around the farm to build a small bungalow to replace their opulent three-story house. They filled the house with furniture they saved from the fire and the family stayed there until 2016 when they donated the house and property to the UWF Historic Trust. The UWF Archaeology Department has been doing research on the property for several years and will hopefully continue to do so in the future.

The 1930s historic house is now a museum that highlights the history of the Simpson family and life during the Great Depression in the South. Through renovations in 2018, the house was brought back to 1930s style house. The living room and dining room houses furniture saved during the 1935 fire that the family kept for all the years that they lived in the house. A radio plays programs from the 1930s, such as Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats and the Hindenburg disaster. Historic silver is displayed in the dining room that belonged to E.E. Simpson’s wife. The kitchen has recipes from Anna Simpson posted on the wall in her handwriting. The room also includes a wood burning stove, a sewing machine and a gas-powered washing machine. Outside, the house has a small Victory garden that the staff maintains. The rest of the property has paths that walk under heritage live oaks and through archaeological remains of the historic site. These remains include the plantation house, a well, and a slave cabin. The Arcadia Homestead, like Arcadia Mill, is dedicated to telling the story of not just the plantation owners, but those unjustly enslaved that worked and lived on the property.

The Arcadia Homestead is a great stop for the family, where both children and adults can have fun and learn about local history. Children love running the grounds and looking through a house that is so much different than their own. Adults always feel that the house reminds them of someone from the past. The most common phrase they say is, “This feels like Grandma’s house.” They would be correct because while the Simpson family once was the richest families in the area, by the 1930s they were like everyone else because the Great Depression affected everyone. The historic house does not just represent that one family, it represents all families that lived through the Great Depression with very little.

The Arcadia Homestead is open Friday and Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM. For more information visit their website, http://www.historicpensacola.org/explore-arcadia-mill/.

Arcadia Homestead: Story Time with Miss Moss

Cassie Brown

Posted: 7/20/2020

   

In a time of quarantine and isolation, children (and even parents) are suffering from “cabin fever” and need something to do. The Arcadia Mill staff understand how difficult these times are and have created a way to entertain and educate children without putting anyone at risk. Every Wednesday, the character Miss Moss sits underneath the story tree and reads a story about history, culture, nature, feelings, and more. These short videos posted on social media have helped to not only entertain families, but to keep connections with the Arcadia community.

The “Story Time with Miss Moss,” program began in the Summer of 2019 by the Arcadia Mill staff for the Arcadia Homestead that opened earlier in the same year. For years, the Arcadia Mill Visitor Center had hosted their monthly kids craft program, and they wanted to continue this outreach by creating a program to encourage literacy at the Arcadia Homestead. The character Miss Moss was created by Krystal Johnson, the site’s Education Coordinator, as a tool to connect with children during these story times. In her overalls and moss-covered brim hat, Johnson sits in a rocking chair under the live heritage oaks on the homestead property to read a story. She reads stories such as “The Lorax,” “If You Give a Pig a Pancake,” and, “Where the Wild Things Are.” She even touches on topics like celebrating Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the freedom gained by those once enslaved. When asked why she started this program, Johnson replied, “I wanted to get families outdoors, enjoying nature and learning together. The enormous heritage oaks at Arcadia Homestead provide a picturesque, peaceful, and most importantly, shaded, area for gathering outdoors. I would often wonder about the stories these old live oak trees could tell about what they have witnessed in their centuries-long lives.”

With the impact of COVID-19 reaching across the country, the staff found a way to continue this treasured story time. The setting is a little different, with the viewer at home, but the message is still the same: The Arcadia staff wishes to continue educating, entertaining, and connecting with their community. The videos on Facebook of Miss Moss include a different story every week and recently have included a sing-along at the very end. While these videos have helped everyone stay connected this summer, the Arcadia staff deeply miss seeing everyone. When asked if there was anything else she wanted people to know about Miss Moss, she replied, “I miss the in-person experience of seeing children connect with the stories and interacting with Miss Moss, but it has been rewarding to receive responses from our original attendees who get excited each week about visiting the Story Tree from the comfort and safety of their own homes! I look forward to seeing them all sitting on the giant blanket in the grass with Miss Moss again someday.”

If you wish to watch “Story Time with Miss Moss” videos, follow Arcadia Mill on Facebook to see new uploads every Wednesday.