Moore House

Moore House. Built: 1879 Moved: 1981. , More Than a Farm Home , George Washington and Frances Moore left Kentucky in 1875 to follow his parents to the Pinellas Peninsula. They built this house next to his parents' plot of land -- just east of Stevenson Creek. George, a blacksmith and machinist, and 'Fanny' had 5 children. The family grew vegetables, cultivated citrus and other fruits while also raising cattle and hogs that roamed freely. , Citrus , The Florida Gold Rush , Cotton, the primary crop in Pinelles during the 1870s gave way to citrus groves. The Moores were among the first in the region to grow oranges and grapefruit. With the arrival of the Orange Belt Railway in 1888, the Moores were in position to move citrus quickly from their packing plants to distant markets. Their agribusiness thrived until 1910 when they sold the land. Citrus grew continually on the land until the late 1970s with later owners living in this grove house., Yellow Fever Hits the Moores , In 1887 George Washington Moore traveled to the small town of Tampa on a business trip where he contracted yellow fever and died. This deadly virus, spread by mosquitoes, ravaged many Florida communities during the 1880s. The Pinellas Peninsula escaped an outbreak because of its sparse population and geographic isolation from the rest of Florida. , The Family Legacy Continues , Daughter Effie married into the Duncan family who homesteaded in the Largo area where they maintained a large citrus grove. , Son Moffett, a prominent Dunedin businessman, took advantage of the feverish land boom. He opened a feed store and ice cream shop, delivered ice, ran a cemetery, made cement blocks, manufactured cigar boxes, sold real estate and even became Dunedin's first 'historian.' , Florida Cracker Style , This native pine home typifies the average farmhouse of the late 19th century. The original two room home had full porches on the front and back--a welcome relief from the heat prior to air conditioning. They converted the back porch into two rooms and built an additional room along the front porch. Commonly known as the Florida Cracker style, the home's design follows the Gulf Coast Cottage style found along the coast in the Deep South. Look for the original two rooms., Tidbits from Time , Punch Drunk Pigs , When farmers processed cane to make sugar and syrup, they skimmed the kettles during the boiling process and saved the skimmings for animal feed. One Moore family story recalls the time they gave an "extra helping" of fermented feed to some hogs and then watched the "gloriously drunk swine swagger and stumble around the farm."