Lowe House

Lowe House. Built: 1888 - Moved: 1991. , A Full Life , In 1888 Wesley Lowe supervised construction of this home built in Anona for his wife Mary, their children and his father, Captain John Thomas Lowe. The Lowes branched out from a shipping business to become farmers, raising a variety of crops. For family fun they enjoyed candy pullings, horseback riding and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Wesley, a rough spoken yet quiet man, lived in this house until the 1930s. , A Derailed Business , Wesley and Captain Lowe ran a successful coastal shipping business during the 1870s and 1880s at a time the nearest rail line was 100 miles north in Cedar Key and only a few dirt trails connected the peninsula to the rest of Florida. They transported farm products, vegetables, citrus, other cargo and even mail. , Childhood Wartime Memories , The Lowe family lived along the Pinellas Gulf Coast and suffered hardships during the Civil War. Family members fought in distant battles leaving others behind struggling to survive as Union ships created a blockade around Florida to strangle the Confederacy. In 1862 three year old Wesley hid in the mangroves and watched Union forces board his father's sloop. , Pinellas Portrait , Captain John Thomas Lowe , (1830-1921) , Captain Lowe, a Bahamian native, spent 19 years shipping cargo from Key West along the west coast of Florida to as far north as Cedar Key. In the late 1850s, the Captain chose Anona as the place to homestead with his wife Laura Meares Lowe and other family members. , From Ship To Shore , As Wesley built this house, other progress came to west central Florida that would alter his livelihood. The Orange Belt Railway arrived in 1888 providing a faster and less expensive way to transport products. Anticipating the change, the Lowes diversified their business interests to include raising livestock, establishing a citrus packing plant and operating a post office and general store. By the early 1890s, Captain Lowe retired and sold the family's two largest schooners to sponges in Tarpon Springs. , Building Nuts and Bolts , Commonly known as a homestead-style house, Wesley built this two story structure of pine and cypress wood. Notice the decorative details on the side porch roofs. The large windows extend to the floor, which enhances air circulation through the house. It may also be a design feature influenced by his father's Bahamian root where this window style is common. , A House on the Move , This house has moved three times! , 1st Move: , Late 1940s Corinna Lowe Condrick, Wesley's daughter, purchased the family home saving it from destruction and moved it in 1951 to a lot in St. Petersburg. , 2nd Move: , 1970 to the site of the former Haas Museum iin St. Petersburg. , 3rd Move: , 1991 to Heritage Village. , Tidbits From Time , Find the Numbered Boards , When moved to St. Petersburg in 1951, workers numbered every board, dismantled the house and moved it in pieces. Like a jigsaw puzzle, they reassembled the structure the next year. Check out the boards inside. , Key West Apples , Early settlers named the area Anona for the sweet apples they brought from Key West. Anona apples, a special variety, grew in hot weather climates. The apple trees disappeared from Pinellas, unable to survive the 1893 and 1894 freezes.