Thomas E. Richards Collection

Collection Items

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  Eden Grove House ledger, 1883-1890, 1940

  Excerpts from a ledger probably kept by Thomas Richards or daughter Lucie. Scanned pages feature registrations for visitors to Eden Grove House between 1883 and 1890 and also 1940. Also pasted in is a "cure for snake bites."
  
  Thomas E. Richards came to the area in 1879; in 1881, he built a fine house near what is now Jensen Beach and called the town Eden and the house Eden Grove. The home featured a music room, library, large dining room, a grand parlor, and seven bedrooms. The Richards rented rooms to visitors. The house burnt down 13 January 1986.
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  Map of the Indian River Country, c. 1890

  Map of the east coast of Florida, including Titusville to Juno in the south. Includes Ankona, Eden, and Waveland. Illustration from the book, On the Indian River by C. Vickerstaff Hine. Chicago : Charles H. Sergel & Company, 1891. Hine documents his travels from Titusville south through the Jupiter Narrows to Lake Worth. Available online (2024-07-12): https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-texts/123/

  Tags Maps
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  At Captain Richard's Plantation, Eden, c. 1890

  Thomas E. Richards and a young boy watch the packing of pineapples into crates. Richards arrived in 1879, purchased land thirteen miles south of Fort Pierce, and named it "Eden." He established a successful pineapple farm and his home, "Eden Grove House," served as a hotel.
  
  Illustration from the book, On the Indian River by C. Vickerstaff Hine. Chicago : Charles H. Sergel & Company, 1891. Hine documents his travels from Titusville south through the Jupiter Narrows to Lake Worth. Unknown photographer, perhaps Hine; engraving by Photo Tint Engraving Company. Available online (2024-07-12): https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-texts/123/

  Tags Florida-Jensen Beach, Pineapple plantations, Pineapples
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  Confluence of the Indian and St. Lucie River, c. 1890

  Sailboat on St. Lucie River. Illustration from the book, On the Indian River by C. Vickerstaff Hine. Chicago : Charles H. Sergel & Company, 1891. Hine documents his travels from Titusville south through the Jupiter Narrows to Lake Worth. Unknown photographer, perhaps Hine; engraving by Photo Tint Engraving Company. Available online (2024-07-12): https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-texts/123/

  Tags Boats, Waterways
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  Peck's Landing, Jupiter Narrows, Indian River, c. 1890

  Small rowboat in water. Illustration from the book, On the Indian River by C. Vickerstaff Hine. Chicago : Charles H. Sergel & Company, 1891. Hine documents his travels from Titusville south through the Jupiter Narrows to Lake Worth. Unknown photographer, perhaps Hine; engraving by Photo Tint Engraving Company. Available online (2024-07-12): https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-texts/123/

  Tags Boats
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  Jupiter Lighthouse, Opposite Jupiter Inlet, c. 1890

  Jupiter Lighthouse and three houses near pier. Illustration from the book, On the Indian River by C. Vickerstaff Hine. Chicago : Charles H. Sergel & Company, 1891. Hine documents his travels from Titusville south through the Jupiter Narrows to Lake Worth. Unknown photographer, perhaps Hine; engraving by Photo Tint Engraving Company. Available online (2024-07-12): https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-texts/123/

  Tags Lighthouses, Piers & wharves
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  Thomas E. Richards with Eden Grove guests, c. 1895

  Thomas E. Richards posed with guests, pineapples, and mangoes, on the railcart used to shuttle pineapples.

  Tags Firearms, Florida-Jensen Beach, Pineapples
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  Memories of Eden : a young girl's letters about life in South Florida's frontier from 1880 thru 1888 by [Lucie E. Richards LeTourneau (1860–1934)]; edited by Raymond Richards Brown.

  A collection of letters written by Lucie Richards who lived at Eden (near Jensen Beach, Florida), expressing the perceptions of a teenage girl from an urban area (Newark, NJ) living in a then-remote section of Florida. Letters are concentrated in the first few years. Lucie was the daughter of Thomas E. Richards, who in about 1879 homesteaded a large tract of land (near what is now Jensen Beach), establishing a pineapple plantation and called it Eden. His daughter, Lucie, arrived in January 1880 when their home, "Eden Grove House," was being constructed. This house took guests and the settlement grew around them. In November 1887, she married Joseph Howard LeTourneau and after her mother's death in 1905, they bought out the other inheritors of Eden Grove House, which stayed in the Richards' family for decades.

  Tags Florida-Eden
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  Pineapple harvesting in Eden, c. 1900

  Men harvesting pineapples on Thomas Richards' fields.

  Tags Agricultural laborers, Pineapple plantations, Pineapples
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  Eden Grove House, c. 1900

  Published in Sandra Thurlow's book, Historic Jensen and Eden on the Indian River (p. 2), with the caption: "Robert M. 'Doc' Pitchford found the Eden Grove House register and an album of Lucie Richards LeTournean's published letters tucked in the rafters of the old Richards home."

  Tags Hotels