I've always liked those wrap around porches.


View of the Louis Thursby house, which was built in 1872 by the Brooklyn, N.Y.,
man and his family, who founded a citrus business in Blue Spring near Orange City, Fla.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09018/942093-37.stm

Citrus grower Thursby's home gives a glimpse of Old Florida

Sunday, January 18, 2009
By Virginia Linn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Virginia Linn/Post-Gazette

If you have some time during your visit to Blue Spring, tour the Louis Thursby home to get a glimpse of Old Florida. The three-story frame house with wrap-around porch was built in 1872, high enough atop an ancient Indian shell mound to escape floodwaters from the St. Johns River.

Louis Peace Thursby and his family were the region's first white settlers in 1856. He came from Brooklyn, N.Y., to grow citrus. In the early years, the steamboat on the St. Johns River was the family's only link to the outside world. Other families later helped build the citrus industry, but many lost their fortunes when the big freeze of 1895 wiped out the orange groves. The Thursbys replanted their trees.

During the early 1880s, five steamboats a day passed by the Blue Spring dock, many stopping to bring northern tourists or freight. By 1910, after the Florida East Coast Railway Network was built, the number of steamboat trips had shrunk to just four a week.

The Thursby house, built with Georgia yellow pine and a cypress-shingled roof, has been restored to show what life was like at the height of the steamboat days between 1872-87. Tall windows and shutters helped moderate the temperature extremes in the summer. Rainwater was collected in a cistern for washing, cooking and bathing. Kerosene lamps and candles provided lighting. Every room had a potbelly stove for heat.

Set a spell in a rocking chair on the front porch, look out into the spring and the St. Johns and you can easily imagine what life was like in the steamboat days. Self-guided tours of the home are free, although donations are requested.

First published on January 18, 2009 at 12:00 am