History of the Pine Castle Historical Society and Museum
On June 28, 2015 one of the area’s most important old homes, the Crawford House, was moved to 631 Wilks Avenue in the heart of Historic Pine Castle. There it joined a small white house already on the property and both are being restored to become the Pine Castle History Museum.
By a quirk of fate, the Wilks property was owned by a cousin of the owner of what is now known as the Crawford House, which was built on Fairlane Avenue. He had built a house at 631 Wilks and in about 1940 he moved a smaller house to 633 Wilks Avenue and used it as a rental. At some point he tore down his own house and put the double lots and small house up for sale.
In the fall of 2014 the newly organized Pine Castle historical Society learned that the Crawford House was scheduled for demolition and a decision was made to try to preserve it. After working closely with the City of Belle Isle, which owned the Crawford House, money was raised and plans were made to move the house.
An appropriate lot was found (the Wilks property) and in the spring of 2015 Ann & Larry White purchased the property and donated it to our society. The small white house already located on the lot was named the “Ann & Larry White House” in their honor.
The Crawford House was built on Fairlane Avenue in 1919 on property which was once part of the homestead of Will Wallace Harney. It is believed that the house was built by Paul Macy and was purchased by Mr. Crawford. The house was just one block from the Pine Castle School and for many years was home to the Crawford daughter, Essie Crawford Johns, a beloved teacher at the Pine Castle School for some 40 years. Area old timers (such as Marie Toye and Charlie Hayes) recall stopping to visit with one another on its welcoming front porch on their way home from school.
In 1974 the house was sold to the Pine Castle Methodist Church and in 1981, when they needed to clear the land, the house was given to the Pine Castle Center of the Arts. The Arts Center (no longer in existence) moved it across the street to 5903 Randolph Road to become part of their campus. For many years it was used for classes in art, music and drama. It was also decorated as a house museum at the annual Pine Days Festival.
The Crawford House will become a house museum showing what country life was like in rural Orange County 100 years ago. Its four main rooms will be furnished as much as possible with artifacts donated by local families. Sturdy period furniture will be used so that the house can be used for small meetings and celebrations. The kitchen will be furnished as a prep kitchen for these events.
A rotating exhibit of local history photographs will enliven the walls. One “photograph” in each room will “come alive” when activated by a smart phone where viewers can select from a menu of options showing short presentations on area people and places.
Inspiration for the development of the Pine Castle Historical Society came from many sources. In 1973, the Pine Castle Woman’s Club was given the collected papers of Will Wallace Harney by Dr. Watt P. Marchman, who was on his way to Ohio to become the Director of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and he wanted the papers to be used to benefit the community. The papers impressed upon us the important role the Greater Pine Castle area had played in the development of Orlando and Orange County. Shirley Cannon took the papers to Dr. Paul W. Wehr, a history professor at UCF and he agreed to use them to write a book. The result was our first publication, Dateline: Pine Castle.
We are looking forward to working with the Orange County Regional History Center to form a coalition of history organizations to preserve Central Florida’s long and fascinating past for both the hometown folks as well as the millions of tourists who visit us each year.
