Now that emergency stabilization work has been completed you may be wondering when the National Park Service plans to reopen the main plantation house. You are not alone, numerous visitors have called the visitor center and park headquarters since Mason Manis completed his Eagle Scout project to shore up the flooring of this historic structure.
The main plantation house at Kingsley Plantation was closed in January of 2003, by Park Superintendent Barbara Goodman to protect the building and to protect visitors to the park site. Built in 1798, this irreplaceable historic structure is the oldest plantation house remaining in Florida. Kingsley Plantation is part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve located within the city limits of Jacksonville, Florida.
The decision to close the structure was based on a preliminary engineering assessment that pointed out damage to the support beams by termites and the structure’s inability to bear the load placed on it by the 55,000 visitors to the site each year. The Superintendent explained “the house was not designed or built to modern building codes. The original plans for the house and subsequent modifications by previous owners were not designed to support the weight and stress placed on the house by the visiting public. Although, this most recent work has stabilized the flooring of the structure, there still remains a great deal of work to determine the extent of damage and make the necessary repairs before visitors will be allowed back into the house.”
The mission of the National Park Service is to preserve and protect national treasures, which are entrusted to the parks by the people of the United States, for this and future generations. Kingsley Plantation is listed as one of the significant historic assets in Public Law 100-249 establishing the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.
Through a congressional appropriation this year sponsored by U.S. Representative Ander Crenshaw, we received $756,000 to begin the structural analysis and first phases of repair and restoration for the main house. This funding will also be used to complete a cultural landscape plan which will help us to restore the landscape at Kingsley Plantation to historic accuracy.
The Timucuan Preserve will contract with an engineering firm to complete an in-depth study, which will fully determine the extent of the damage to the structure. This study will also address the issue of stabilizing the house. In the meantime, visitor contact and orientation will continue elsewhere on site. Rangers will continue to present programs for the visiting public. Other historic buildings at the plantation as well as the grounds will remain open.
Kingsley Plantation is located off Heckscher Drive/A1A north of the St. Johns River ferry landing. For more information, please call 904/251-3537.
