← Interactive exhibits aim to appeal to devicesavvy younger audiences. Letters from freed slaves searching for enslaved relatives are among the artifacts that can be digitally examined.
staircase was left open to allow visitors to view the craftsmanship of the enslaved people who built it.
PHOTOS BY SARA BROCKMANN AND RAY STANYARD
↑ Crumbling masonry was painstakingly
replaced, while other historic features — including the gardens — were carefully preserved.
formal tour of the museum will begin in the basement is an additional surprise. The purpose for The Grove’s unique tour route relates back to the interpretive plan that was created for the museum. In spatial-storyteller speak, introducing the
unexpected can help to eliminate preconceived ideas of what a space is “supposed to be” and create a more open frame of mind in which greater learning can take place. To fully appreciate all that The Grove Museum has to offer, an open mind — and a visit to the basement — is requisite. The basement’s low ceiling is made of wooden planks lying across huge floor joists, or beams, which bear the marks of the saws that split them in the 1830s, when construction on the building began. The hands that wielded those saws belonged to enslaved persons who were owned by the third and fifth territorial governor of Florida, Richard Keith Call — First Lady of Florida Mary Call Collins’ great-grandfather. When Mary Call Collins lived at The Grove, the basement was her husband’s home office. Which means that Governor LeRoy Collins, who made major contributions to the advancement of civil rights, was surrounded on all sides by the evidence of the labor of enslaved people as he sat at his desk each day. Now that’s a story worth telling, and it’s just the first and last chapters. The
↑ After restoration, the underside of the grand
bulk of The Grove’s story is about the Call and Collins women. “They played a huge role in the history of The Grove,” says Johnathan Grandage, the museum’s executive director. “The museum exists because of Ellen Call Long, Reinette Long Hunt and Mary Call Collins. If it weren’t for Ellen’s resourcefulness, The Grove and all of its land would have been sold off after the Civil War. Reinette kept the home in the family by becoming an entrepreneur. Mary Call Collins was a preservationist VISIT THE GROVE who sold The Grove The mission of The to the State of FlorGrove Museum is to preserve and interpret ida in 1985, making the Call-Collins House, The Grove’s history its surrounding acreage and its historical available to us today.” collections, in order Grandage explains to engage the public in dialogue about the that The Grove’s hisstruggle for civil rights tory is important beand American history. cause it provides visi902 N. Monroe Street (850) 577-0228 tors with a window thegrovemuseum.com on a broader cultural Hours: House tours are and historical experioffered on the hour on ence. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, starting at “This home has 1 p.m., and on been a witness to a Saturdays, starting at 10 a.m. All final tours begin large swath of hisat 3 p.m. The grounds, tory, but that history which include 10.5 acres of park-like property, doesn’t mean much are open Wednesday– unless we can connect Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The house it to the present,” he and grounds are closed says. “The people Sunday–Tuesday. who lived here had Admission: FREE; an impact on society prearranged tours that extended befor groups of 10 or more are available at yond Tallahassee and $1 per guest. Please beyond their time. contact TheGrove@ dos.myflorida.com in That’s worth thinkadvance to make group ing about as we move tour arrangements. into the future.” TM TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM
March–April 2018
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