In the middle of Punta Gorda, Fla., is the Punta Gorda History Park. It is surrounded by walking paths and includes a wonderful community garden with raised beds housing a variety of vegetables growing in each. Members of the community as well as tourists can enjoy the paths and the garden – but the centerpiece is the historic park. Currently there are four buildings that are part of the historic park. The Trabue Land Sales Office serves as an art gallery as well as the visitors center. The park is run by the Punta Gorda Historical Society and Punta Gorda Women’s Club and opened in 1999 as an outdoor museum. One of the highlights of the park is the Sunday farmers’ market, which also offers a garden tour and a chance to see inside all of the buildings, including the Cigar Workers Cottage, the Price House and the Quednau/Hindman House (along with an unusual jail). The Trabue Land Sales Office, a one-story wood frame, was built in 1886 by Isaac Trabue, the founder of Punta Gorda. Originally the town was called Trabue, and his building served as his law office and the land sales office. It was also the first Post Office in Punta Gorda in 1886. The first farms, buildings and homes, whether rural or in town, would have been sold at this historic building. The Cigar Cottage is one of the cottages that surrounded the El Palmetto Cigar Co., which was established in the1890s. The cottages each housed two families and did not have kitchens. In October 1999, this cottage was the first historical building to be relocated to the History Park (the Trabue building was relocated there in 2000). The El Palmetto Cigar Co. flourished in Punta Gorda until 1901. This cottage was donated to the park and took 3,500 hours of volunteer labor to renovate. The cottage was completed in 2001. Maxwell Price, an architect known for his church designs, joined two cottages in 1914 to form the Price House. In the 1990s, the home was bought by the Searles family, who operated it as a bed and breakfast that was known as the Gilchrist B&B. It was moved to the History Park in 2005. The Quednau/Hindman House has a lot of local history. It once belonged to Fred Quednau, who was a fisherman, café owner, Punta Gorda mayor and county sheriff. His daughter, Tosie Hindman, was the supervisor of elections for Charlotte County for many years. The jail – or calaboose, as it is referred to – served to keep the reckless and lawless in control in the early cowboy days of Trabue. “Wild and raucous cowboys and fisherman boozed it up on Saturday nights and the city fathers decided that something must be done,” states Puntagordahistory.com “To this end the town bought a portable cage with steel bars. The calaboose was built by E.T. Barnum Wire and Iron Works in Detroit, Mich. The company’s Number 7 steel lattice cage cost the city nearly $200.” The calaboose was found on a ranch and now has been restored and moved to the History Park. For more information about the park or the Historical Society, if you’re going to be traveling through sometime, call 941-639-1887. Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com |
