Historic Haile Homestead

SUMMARY

Size: 40 acres
Year conserved: 1985
Partner organization: Historic Haile Homestead, Inc.

ABOUT HISTORIC HAILE HOMESTEAD

Located in Gainesville, Historic Haile Homestead is a 6,200 square-foot structure that was nestled in the center of the old 1,500 acre Kanapaha plantation.

The home is the second oldest in Alachua County, but the feature that makes Historic Haile Homestead particularly special is the “talking walls.” Members of the Haile family and their guests would write on the walls – anything from diary entries to party guest lists to recipes for home remedies. The walls contain more than 12,500 words, with much of them being in the music room and parlor. Ben Haile has the oldest writing in the home, dated in 1859 when he was just seven years old.

The Haile family moved to Gainesville from Camden, South Carolina in 1854 to establish a Sea Island Cotton plantation, which they named Kanapaha. Historic Haile Homestead was completed in 1856 with the labor of enslaved black craftsmen.

In the late 1980s, the Haile family partnered with Alachua Conservation Trust to restore the house. Today, ACT co-owns and manages the property with the Haile family and Historic Haile Homestead, Inc. in a partnership that maintains the family name on the house and preserves the property as a historic house museum.

ADDRESS

8500 SW Archer Rd, Gainesville, FL 32608

Historic Haile Homestead is open to the public for tours every Saturday from 10am to 2pm and on Sunday from 12pm to 4pm. Tours are $5/person; children under 12 are free.

Historic Haile Homestead, Inc. is a separate 501c3 non-profit corporation established to market & raise funds for the house. In addition, they coordinate a docent program to educate visitors about the early history of the family and homestead in this part of Florida. Learn more about Historic Haile Homestead on Historic Haile Homestead, Inc.'s website here.