Visit this beautiful historic house that tells the city’s past in its garden. Guides are dressed in period costume and occasionally serve afternoon tea.
Pritchard House in Titusville, Florida, is a fine example of Queen Anne architecture with its scalloped gables, open verandahs and overlapping wood cladding. The spacious building is painted in the color scheme of the late 19th century, while period furniture and collections help maintain its authenticity. Tour this house museum filled with interesting relics and factual accounts from earlier periods.
Captain James Pritchard served in the Confederate Army in Missouri, although he was born in New York City in 1836. He met his wife, Mary Haley Boyé, in Texas while she was visiting from her hometown of Key West, Florida. Years later the couple moved to Florida and grew sugarcane and citrus crops on land belonging to Mary’s family. Imagine their heartbreak when a severe frost in 1886 destroyed the plants.
The captain began selling real estate in Titusville and organized the first bank in the area. He also began the community’s first electric generating plant that would eventually become Florida Power and Light Company. During this period of entrepreneurship, the family home in Titusville was built from heart pinewood. Picture the activity in this home when the captain and his wife lived here with their son and daughter, Mary’s mother and a maid.
In 1926 Captain Pritchard died but family members continued to live in the house until 2005 when it was classified as a structure of historical importance.
Walk through the garden that features azaleas, roses, citrus and a three-tiered fountain. Notice the signposts throughout the garden that dedicate sections to influential Titusville families. The plaques serve as a reference for the city’s history.
Reserve a tour or tea at Pritchard House. It is open most days and accepts donations. Plan to spend about 90 minutes here. Find this Titusville attraction and its gift shop on South Washington Avenue for a glimpse of life in a bygone era.
