Beyond the Guidebook: Fort Christmas Historical Park

I spent a lovely (but sweltering) July afternoon in Christmas, Florida, visiting the Fort Christmas Historical

Park. It was a quiet Summer Thursday, but there were still multiple large families enjoying the park

alongside me. 

Fort Christmas is both a beautiful recreation spot and a rich historical site. It has pavilions, picnic tables,

sports fields, tennis and basket courts, and a playground, as well as a museum, replica fort, and multiple

furnished historic homes and buildings.

The Fort Christmas Historical Park main office

 

A helpful employee named Laudy recommended I with the most recent 1950s Partin House to work my

way back in time through over a dozen historic homes and buildings. These structures have elaborate and

detailed period-accurate furnishings. 

The Partin House was constructed circa 1953 from pine that Emma and Dixie Partin and Robert Rouse cut and cured from
 nearby woods.

Next, I explored the 1930s lunchroom and the Union School dating to 1906. 

I found myself wishing my mother, and even her mother, were at Fort Christmas Historical Park alongside

me. They would pass on the colorful family yarns and bring these objects to life. 

Then, in the back of the schoolhouse, I caught sight of the wall of memories and photos doing just that.

Something about Ms. Moody’s story stuck out to me. 

“When I was in the 4th grade they had tables in the 'small' room. We were playing ball and Emily Winger slung her bat and hit my head! I have a scar to prove it; my head was just a bleeding! Sonny Tucker led me up and put his handkerchief over my head. He lead me up the steps and I bumped my shin that hurt 'worse than my head and I started crying'. They laid me on one of the tables and placed gauze over it 'til my mama came that evening. So that's why I know they had tables for desks in 1945”

May 5, 2008

Barbara Yates Moody

Barbara Yates attended Union School in the 1940s.

The park also boasts a replica of its namesake fort. 

The fort was originally buit in 1837 during the Second Seminole War. The replica was completed in 1977

and its multiple rooms are bursting with beatiful artifacts from Florida’s Seminole, Pioneer, and Cracker histories and beyond.

While the artifacts are fascinating, its clear the displays have not been updated in quite a long time. 

There are other fascinating sites to see to see in the park. Such as the replica outhouse, the sugar cane mill,

the 1890 Yates House and many more. Unfortunately, this is when my phone (and camera) died and I

decided it was time to head home.

So as for the rest of the park, not to mention how Fort Christmas got its name, it’s a mystery you’ll have to

discover for yourself. 

Text and photos by Caroline Amein.