The mansion, that was once, Florida governor’s home is finally going to open its doors to the public. A historic home that symbolizes much of the state's past and transformation, the Grove, will have its opening in March, after an extensive renovation that costs to the taxpayers nearly $6 million.
The Grove was built by one of Florida's early territorial governors using slave labor, hidden behind live oaks and magnolias. Later, It served as home to Gov. LeRoy Collins, as he tried to shepherd the state through the civil rights era. The opening will be on March 11.
Secretary of State, Ken Detzner said, "The grand opening of The Grove is the culmination of more than six years of work to rehabilitate this historic home and transform it into one of the nation's premier interpretive history museums of its kind."
An officer on Gen. Andrew Jackson's personal staff, Richard Keith Call, modeled his home after Jackson's Hermitage, in Tennessee, and by 1831, is believed to have finished building it . As found in many Southern homes, the mansion features a wide main hallway, pinewood floors and a winding cypress staircase.
Call was living at The Grove, when he reportedly chastised a group when they came to tell him, Florida had voted to secede from the United States.
Almost a century later, another owner of the Grove would have to confront the turbulence of the civil rights era.
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In 1955, Collins, who married Call's great-granddaughter Mary, entered the office. Instead of adopting the confrontational stance of other Southern governors, he would earn a reputation for trying to chart a moderate course on race relations. In 1957, he blasted state legislators, when they passed an "interposition" resolution, contending the U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of schools to be null and void in Florida.
In the '80s, the state paid more than $2 million, to acquire the 10 acres and the mansion, but it included a provision that, until Mary Collins died, the state would not physically begin work on the property. In 1991, the former Gov. Collins died in the home, in 2009, his wife passed away. Both are buried on the estate.
Initially, in the fall of 2014, the mansion was supposed to open to the public. But, it was delayed due to amid lawsuits with an adjoining property owner, and allegations of wrongdoing among top employees overseeing the project.
Employees overseeing the project were fired for failing to keep Detzner's top aides aware of delays in developing panels and displays for the museum, an inspector general's report from late 2015 recommended. Shortly after the critical report came out, one of those officials resigned.
A spokeswoman for Detzner, Meredith Beatrice said, in 2016 state officials concluded that additional outside improvements and security enhancement were needed before The Grove could open. These included reconstruction of the front porch, and paving of the visitor parking lot.
By Mrudula
