Families looking for an inexpensive outing, people who enjoy interesting architecture, and history buffs should consider making the trek to the Gamble House Historic State Park in Ellenton.
The park boasts Gamble Mansion, the oldest building in Manatee County.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
It sits on land once part of a thriving sugar plantation. And it’s the place where the secretary of state for the Confederacy is believed to have hid out briefly during his escape from the United States.
Gamble Mansion is considered to be a fine example of antebellum construction, and is the only remaining plantation house remaining in South Florida. It belonged to Maj. Robert Gamble Jr., who arrived in the area from Tallahassee in 1843 after the end of the Second Seminole War, according to documents on display in the museum in the park’s visitor center.
Gamble was attracted by the area’s mild climate, rich soil and easy access to the Manatee River. He also was enticed by free land, offered by Congress through the Armed Occupation Act to encourage settlement of the frontier. Before Gamble set foot on the plantation, its only occupants were wild creatures, oak hammocks and pine flatwoods.
By 1845, Gamble’s plantation was among a dozen cultivating sugarcane and producing sugar for the New Orleans market, according to a historic marker at the park. Sugar and molasses were shipped by schooner and steamboat to Louisiana.
Over time, Gamble amassed holdings of about 3,500 acres, including about 1,500 acres under cultivation. Besides sugar, the plantation produced limes, lemons, olives, oranges, corn and beans, according to a map in the museum, depicting the plantation.
Gamble purchased modern machinery from New Orleans and the slaves working the plantation were brought by boat from the Tallahassee area where his father had a plantation, according to museum documents. By 1855, he owned 155 slaves. They did all of the plantation work, from cooking to clearing fields to rowing across a river to cut wood to use as fuel at the sugar works.
Gamble was a bachelor, but he lived in a mansion, featuring Greek Revival architectural elements, that was built in stages over six years. The two-story structure is made of red brick and tabby brick, which consists of shells, sand and oyster-shell lime.
The 10-room mansion was built to last. Eighteen columns support the roof and upper verandas, and the walls are nearly two-feet thick.
While the building was strong, the plantation’s finances were not. The plantation operated on a complex credit structure, and by 1856, Gamble’s finances had become so strained, he could not weather problems that resulted from declining sugar prices and crop losses, according to museum documents.
Gamble sold the estate for $190,000 in 1856, and returned to Tallahassee.
The mansion’s story, however, was far from over.
One of its most exciting chapters involves the former secretary of state for the Confederacy.
“Just before Richmond, Va. — the southern capital fell — Judah P. Benjamin, secretary of state of Confederate States of America, fled with President Davis and other Cabinet members,” according to museum documents. “Benjamin escaped the North America mainland by way of Florida, and tradition has it that the Gamble House was his last stop.”
The house has faced its share of challenges, park manager Kevin Kiser said.
“It had been damaged by hurricanes. Some of the people who owned it had used it for manure storage. It was in shambles,” Kiser said.
The neglected mansion was in a state of ruin before it was revived by the Judah P. Benjamin Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, which purchased the property in 1925 and deeded it to the state.
About 75,000 visitors drop by the historic site every year, and it is a popular backdrop for weddings and other special events.
People touring the mansion will see rooms that are mostly outfitted with furniture and tools of the day appropriate to the style of a mid-19th century plantation.
“We don’t really have any records of how they used the rooms,” Kiser said, so the furnishings reflect an interpretation of how the rooms might have been used between the 1840s and 1860s.
The house has never been electrically wired. It does have high ceilings and cross-ventilation to help make life bearable on sweltering summer days.
Besides its antebellum architecture, another unique feature at the mansion is a huge cistern, built to catch rainwater from the roof’s gutters. A cistern was needed to provide drinking and bathing water for the people living there, Kiser said.
After Gamble left, Maj. George Patten bought the land and mansion in 1872 for $3,000. The Pattens abandoned the mansion in 1895 to avoid the high costs of maintenance, and a new home was built on the site for Dudley Patten and his wife. Originally, the house consisted of four rooms, but additions were added in 1904 and 1912.
Today, the house is used as a chapter house for the local Judah P. Benjamin Chapter, and is recognized as the Florida headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Besides its interesting history, the park offers a pleasant respite from daily life, with its picnic areas, park benches and Spanish moss-draped trees.
WHAT: Gamble Plantation Historic State Park
WHERE: 3708 Patten Ave., Ellenton, just off U.S. 301
WHEN: 365 days a year, 8 a.m. until sundown for park; most days except some holidays for the mansion
COST: Free for park admission; Gamble Mansion is $6 for adults, $4 for children 6-12, with younger children free.
Tours last 45 minutes, and are offered several times a day on Thursdays through Mondays.
The visitor center has a museum, open Thursdays through Mondays.
Group tours can be arranged by calling (941) 723-4536.
WHAT: Spring Park Car Show and Swap Meet
WHERE: Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, 3708 Patten Ave., Ellenton
WHEN: March 23, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
COST: Car registration fee is $15 in advance, $20 day of show
INFO: Call (941) 405-3533
Published March 19, 2014
