115 Gill Street

 

Purchased by Grove Cochran, born in 1834 in New York and a Union Army veteran. He moved to Charlotte Harbor in 1885. He volunteered for a six-year voyage on a whaling ship at age 13; sailed the Great Lakes, worked as a locomotive engineer on the railroad, served under Gen. Sherman in the Civil War and had a bayonet wound as a souvenir. He claimed a pharmacist certification in Arkansas and opened a pharmacy on Marion Avenue upon moving to Punta Gorda. The house currently contains many of its original features and the front door is original. Eyebrow windows, hardwood floors, beadboard throughout and 12 foot ceilings.

 

415 East Virginia Ave.

 

Built in 1925 and home to Jean Cleveland, Punta Gorda's first female city clerk and her son Ulysses S. Cleveland.  Cleveland  died in 1991 at 100 years old.  

In 2021 the city voted against funds contributing to the preservation of the home.  Garrett Kizer, of Charlotte Harbor Construction and current house owner tried to save the home when he realized it wasn't fiscally feasible.  So teaming up with City Council member Jaha Cummings and his mother, Martha Bireda, current director of the Blanchard House Museum, redoubled their efforts and in 2022 they received a grant of $480,000 for the renovation.  The house will be moved from 415 E. Virginia Ave. as an extension to the Blanchard House Museum, 406 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.  It is being used as an educational institution focused on the history, culture and contributions of African Americans in Southwest Florida. (Info from The Daily Sun, 6/19/22)  It had significant damage from Hurricane Ian and is closed while under repair. (9/23)

LaVilla Road - Cedar Oaks

 

When Willian M. Whitten came to Punta Gorda in 1899, he was seriously ill.   In Punta Gorda he bought a newly planted pineapple plantation farm one mile east of town.  They were known as sure-fire money makers requiring little investment and or work.  Within two years Whitten regained his health and returned to Indiana to his family.  His wife was seriously ill and he brought the family back to Punta Gorda in hopes she would recover.  He built a new home he called Cedar Oaks at what is now Florida Street and LaVilla Road in  the Old Florida style. 

Pineapples were a new business in Punta Gorda when Mr. Whitten arrived.  Around 1896 a group of leading businessmen, the McAdows among them, began the Solana Pineries Co. and planted their crop east of town.  In 1903 just five acres were cultivated but produced over 2,000 crates of pineapples with a net profit of almost $2,700, a good sum in those days.  In 1902 William Whitten moved to Punta Gorda permanently after previous visits.  His plants began producing in 1909 and he subdivided about 250 acres east of town into 14 lots of various sizes naming the plat Pineapple Centre.  At this time it was the main section of pineapple production in the area.  A freeze in 1917 dealt the local industry a disastrous blow and rendered the pineapple industry unrecoverable.   The Florida Southern Railway built a depot and loading dock there.  It has since been demolished.  

Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey and Olive Nelson occupied the home located at Florida Street and LaVilla.  Mrs. Nelson (nee Brown) is the granddaughter of William M. Whitten.  Mr. Nelson is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Henry Nelson.

William Whitten’s granddaughter resided in the home until recently.  It was damaged during Hurricane Ian and is currently being restored.  

311 Retta Esplanade - Freeman House

A.C. Freeman built this house in 1903, originally on land he purchased from Albert Gilchrist, after migrating to Punta Gorda in 1889.  Freeman owned a hardware store and a citrus grove, among other ventures. He served in various city government positions from 1896 to 1904, including tax collector, councilman and treasurer as well as mayor during the later four or five years. He was the first elected mayor in 1900 and served as the sheriff of DeSoto County (from which Charlotte County was derived) for eight years.  During the 1902 mayoral campaign he was described as "'Industrious, frugal and obliging... well-to-do, but probably not a millionaire'".  

The house is currently owned by the City of Punta Gorda. In 1985 it was slated for demolition.  A major community effort coordinated by the Medical Center Foundation relocated the house from its original East Marion address, where Kays Ponger Funeral home is today, to 639 Hargreaves Street.  Ultimately, the house was relocated to its current location on Retta Esplanade and 41 South, serving as a familiar gateway into the city. The City assumed ownership of the building after Hurricane Charley struck in August 13, 2004.  It was then moved to its present location.  

25325 Marion Avenue

Part time resident George A. Barnhart, a master plumber from Baltimore, Maryland, owned this house.  He had it built in 1926.  The original part of the house was the kitchen.  It consists of two bedrooms on the first floor and one large room on the second floor.  Also, the living room, dining room, bathroom sun parlor were on the east side, and the kitchen.  Around 1954 it was left to one of his daughters, Lillian Mae Barnhart Ehrman Carter.  She then passed it to her son, Raymond M. Ehrman in 1986 around her death in 1986.  The house was then sold in 1997 to Lori Irons and her husband.  (Information supplied by Joan Ehrman, wife of Raymond M.)

311 Taylor Street

While evidence of this structure does not show until about 1926, Charlotte County's General Index to Deeds 1921-1924 show taxes paid on the property by A. B. Tucker and Caroline H. Tucker.  The wooden construction, weighted windows and tin roof are typical of early 1920's home building.  According to a previous owner, the house was built in 1923 for the daughter of Sidney Parnell, the first sheriff of Charlotte County.  The tax roll lists John A. Lindhal and his wife as property owners in 1926.  Until 1921 all taxes and deeds were recorded by and in DeSoto County.

Until 1989 the cottage was owned by a member of the Parnell family. From 1999 until 2021, the house was the site of the Red Hat Studio, Punta Gorda's first working artist studio, owned by artist Liz Hutchinson.  

219 Sullivan Street

 

Circuit-riding Reverend George Gatewood bought this home in 1915.  He was a minister licensed by the Methodist General conference in 1899.  He preached to frontier churches that were beyond the reach of regular clerics with the help of occasional visiting ministers.  He attended the spiritual needs of 200 homesteaders in "Union Services" which were held in schoolhouses throughout the area.  He and his wife supported themselves by operating "General" stores here in town.  He also worked as postmaster, real estate salesman, fisherman and newspaper reporter.  He wrote two books of historical significance:  Ox Cart Days to Airplane Era in Southwest Florida" and "On Florida's Coconut Coast" both of which have been republished by the Punta Gorda Historical Society.