The village is now comprised of eight buildings. All were brought from elsewhere on the island and fully restored by a group of volunteers called the Hammerheads. Over 100 volunteers who act as docents, gardeners and tour leaders, staff the museum.
RUTLAND HOUSE
The Rutland House was opened as a museum in 1984. The house, built in 1913, in a typical "cracker" style, (cracker deriving from the sound Florida cattlemen made when cracking whips,) is made of hard Florida pine. The Rutland House, originally built on a site on Periwinkle Way, stands above the ground on pilings made of concrete and beach sand for protection from floods as well as allowing for air to circulate. Eleven-foot ceilings, wide hallway and placement of windows and doors opposite each other keep the house cool and are typical attributes of a "cracker House."
Clarence came to the island with his parents in 1896 at the age of six and was a jack-of-all-trades. In the 1920s he earned seven cents per crate packing tomatoes and peppers for farmers and resided in this house from 1928 to shortly before his death in 1982.
BURNAP COTTAGE
The Burnap Cottage is the oldest building in the Village and was built on Woodring Point on land homesteaded by Sam Woodring. In the early 1900s a minister by the name of Gatewood used the cottage to hold Sunday services. Upon Sam’s death, Hirman Burnap purchased the cottage and used it as a fishing retreat in the winter. Nellie and James Brewster bought the cottage and added a second story. In 1998 the building was donated to the village and restored to its original state.
MORNING GLORIES HOUSE
The house, Sears & Roebuck Prefabrication, is a favorite with visitors. At a cost of $2211, Martin Mayer ordered the house delivered in 1925. It came to the island in 30,000 pieces on a flatbed truck aboard a barge.
Morning Glories was originally located on San Carlos Bay. A few years ago the house was donated to the Village, and a group of volunteers labored for almost a year to restore the building to its present condition. Its warm and cozy atmosphere seems quite livable to today’s visitor and represents a typical winter home on Sanibel in the 20s and 30s.
OLD BAILEY STORE
Originally situated in San Carlos Bay, this second store also known as the "Sanibel Packing Company" was built after the hurricane of 1926. Built farther back on land, it’s gabled ends were tied down with braces, and between the inside and outside siding, diagonal tongue and groove boards strengthened the walls for better hurricane protection.
It was the center for the island with telephone and telegraph links, while steamer, ferry and mail boats stopped at the docks.
Islanders voted here, sent and received mail and caught up on the latest news.
MISS CHARLOTTA'S TEAROOM
Miss Charlotta’s Tearoom is the little building with four lives. It was built but never used as a gas station, then after the 1926 hurricane, a temporary store. Between 1928-35 it became a tearoom and last, a private residence.
Before the 1926 hurricane, the Bailey brothers constructed this building as a gas station. The building survived the hurricane, and the Bailey’s made it a temporary store. The new store completed, the building was moved and turned over to Charlotta Mathews, the present Bailey brother’s maiden aunt, who made it into a tearoom across from the ferry landing.
OLD POST OFFICE
No visitor can walk by this building, complete with mail drop and old Glory flying out front, without stepping inside. The Sanibel post office was chosen as a test site for rural mail in 1895 and permanently established on April 2, 1900. The mail sack was put off the steamer at Will Reed’s dock on San Carlos Bay. The front porch of his house served as the post office. The hurricane of 1926 washed away Reed’s house, but there was enough debris found to build this small post office. Will Reed was postmaster until 1940.
OLD SCHOOLHOUSE
In 1896 the East Sanibel School for white children was built on the corner of Bailey Road and Periwinkle Way, and moved farther up Periwinkle in 1903 where it sat for over 100 years. The building, a classic one-room schoolhouse, had a platform in the front where different grades took turns doing lessons with the teacher. In the center was a wood stove used to warm the room in winter as well as heat soup and cocoa. In 1932, a second room was added, more windows installed, and the schoolhouse was able to house grades one through eight. In December of 2004, the schoolhouse was moved to the Historical Village.
SANIBEL PACKING HOUSE
This building is a replica of warehouses used by farmers on Sanibel in the early 20th century. When the Bailey brothers decided to distribute their farm products to their northern neighbors, their warehouse served as temporary storage for their goods until ferry and train could ship them. Today the "packing house" is used for storage for the museum. An old delivery truck dating back to 1932 is also on display at the museum.
For more information contact
jerimagg@comcast.netDirections to the Village: Follow Causeway Road onto the island. Pass Sanibel/Captiva Chamber of Commerce to 4-Way Stop on Periwinkle Way. Turn right, proceed along Periwinkle, and pass Casa Ybel Road to Dunlop Road. Turn right, and proceed along Dunlop, bear right until the Historical Village. Turn right into parking lot.