LONGWOOD, Fla. – Those driving along Warren Avenue in Longwood have likely spotted this roughly 140-year-old building.
But few might know how it got there.
Recommended Videos
The home — also known as the Bradlee-McIntyre House — is estimated to have been built in the 1880s for a Boston architect named Nathaniel Bradlee.
It was used as a vacation home for Bradlee and his family, though it was originally built in Altamonte Springs.
While Bradlee’s family spent several winters in the home, he died shortly after it was erected, and it was later sold to the McIntyre family in 1904. And it continued to change hands several times after that.
Over half a century later in 1969, city officials sought to tear the home down to use the land, though they made an offer to the community first.
“The land was more valuable than the house itself, so that’s why it was put up: ‘Buy it for $1 and move it, or we’re gonna give it to the fire department to burn down,’” one of the docents, Marla Pickelsimer, told News 6.
As a result, the Longwood Historic Society rescued the home from destruction, having it moved to a plot of land that had been donated up in Longwood.
The entire building (as well as the nearby Inside-Outside House) was transported along the highway to its new home at 130 W. Warren Ave.
The house was later placed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, cementing its status as a historical landmark in the area.
Since then, the Bradlee-McIntyre house has undergone major renovations thanks to the Longwood Historic Society, with many of its rooms being remodeled to match the aesthetic of its early days.
Guests can tour the building, finding a few bedrooms on the second story — one of which has been remodeled to look like a nursery.
Another room on that floor sits to the righthand side as soon as visitors head upstairs, though according to Pickelsimer, no one’s quite sure what it was originally used for.
As such, it’s been formatted into a “Museum Room,” where the Historical Society has showcased many of the related artifacts it found.
However, this floor is where some of the secrets of the house begin to emerge.
An “empath” — someone who professes to be a psychic or spiritual medium — once roamed the Bradlee-McIntyre House searching for specters, and he reported feeling some “electrical activity” in one of the second-floor bedrooms.
Even before then, previous residents reported seeing strange figures in the shadows.
“When we talked to the family who lived here in the 1970s, (the children) came back as adults to go through the house when they found out it was a museum,” Pickelsimer said. “And one of the ladies said that was her bedroom, and she would see somebody standing in the door.”
Climbing to the third floor, visitors will come across a diorama of the house in a glass case, as well as a bedroom to the left.
There are some more nooks and crannies stashed away on this floor, which Pickelsimer said were “leftover” bits during the home’s initial construction.
Pickelsimer showed News 6 one such space, which leads to the exterior of the third-floor bedroom and the home’s tower.
The third floor also hosts a room that acted as a servant’s quarters or extra bedroom.
But this leads to another secret inside the house.
In this area is a small closet space that seems to lead to nowhere.
But if you go around to the back of the third floor and walk through a small door, you’ll find another “extra space” in the house.
[STORY CONTINUES BELOW]
But the strangeness doesn’t stop there.
Another docent, Kathy Goshen, told News 6 that a guest took pictures inside one of the parlor rooms, though “strange orbs” appeared in the images afterward.
And in the third floor’s passage behind the servants’ quarters, there have been reports of visitors hearing things and feeling presences, according to Goshen.
“Just by coincidence, but there’s a little sign (in the museum) about a lawyer who lived in the house. We don’t know if he died in that room — we cannot know that — but we put it there. And you’ll be amazed at the people who have come in to do tours, they said, ‘Oh, why yes, I feel something in here,’” Goshen said.
The strange experiences that many guests have had may not be for nothing. The Bradlee-McIntyre House hosts a “Longwood Haunted History Tour” for Halloween, where guests can learn about supposed ghost stories involving the house.
However, the site is in major need of improvements.
Specifically, the Historic Society is trying to replace the house’s upper shingle roof with a metal one.
“It’s very expensive just because of the nature of that house — because it’s three stories high, because it’s historic, because they have to get a crane out there to do it,” said Jason Byrne, the Historic Society’s vice president.
While the group was able to scrape together enough funds to do the lower roof a few years ago, they’re short on money now, so they need some help.
“We don’t have enough money yet to do the upper roof, and we’ve had leaks, so we’ve just been patching and patching,” Byrne said. “We’ve had to repair some of the drywall and roof and stuff like that where it’s leaked.”
If the roof isn’t replaced, it poses major risks of leaking, which could threaten the artifacts and interior of the building.
As such, the Historic Society is putting together a poker tournament on Saturday to help raise that dough.
“We’re hoping to have somewhere around 70-100 people participate. They show up about 4 p.m., and we’ve got food that is catered,” Byrne explained. “It’s a really, really good dinner that’s served beforehand, and then they start dealing the cards at 6 p.m.”
According to Byrne, the tournament also features an open bar and prizes, such as fishing trips and gift certificates.
The tournament is scheduled from 4:30-10 p.m. at the Longwood Community Building at 200 W. Warren Ave.
Player registration is $75 per person, along with an option for couple’s registration that runs $125.
“This is gonna be like a $60,000 to $70,000 expense on that upper roof, so the other things after that are going to be relatively minor, but it’s something that has to be done,” Byrne stated.
Once the new metal roof is installed on the home, Byrne predicts it should last for around 100 years.
For more information on Saturday’s poker tournament fundraiser or to purchase tickets, click here.
For information about tours of the home, click here.