Bonnet House
- Description: A view of the Eastern side of Bonnet House. The property that the Bonnet House was built on was originally owned by Hugh Taylor Birch. When his boat was washed up onto the shore during a storm, he decided that he was meant to stay there. The house property was then given to his daughter, Helen Birch, and Frederic Bartlett as a wedding gift, and construction started on the house in 1920. Not only had her father passed on his passion for the outdoors, but Helen was a gifted composer and musician as well. Frederic Bartlett was also a talented artist. Because they both shared a love of art, creativity, and nature, the Bonnet House is a perfect representation of its owners' personalities. Tragically, Helen died of cancer in 1925. Six years later, Frederic married friend of the family, Evelyn Fortune Bartlett. Fortunately, Frederic's next wife would also love and care for the Bonnet House and add even more creativity and personality to the estate. Evelyn Bartlett eventually gave the Bonnet House to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation in 1983 in order to ensure that it would continue to be a preservation of the past. She lived at the estate until she died at 109 years old. The Bonnet House is very similar to how it looked in the 1930s and 40s. Info from: Rice, Jayne Thomas. Bonnet House: The Life & Gift. Miami: Thomas Press Inc., 2007 (Bonnet House Inc.)
- Keywords: Bonnet House, Hugh Taylor Birch, Helen Birch, Frederic Bartlett, Evelyn Bartlett, slough, water, tree
- TIFF File: A high resolution TIFF of Bonnet House (40.5 Mb) is available for download. This is a very large file suitable for printing. For most on-screen purposes, you should use the image displayed on this page instead of this TIFF.
- Source: Florida Center for Instructional Technology, Exploring Florida: Social Studies Resources
for Students and Teachers (Tampa, FL: University of South Florida, 2009)
- County: Broward County
- Location:
- Date of Photo: 5/25/2008
- Photographer: Roy Winkelman
