Eloise Stewart Park
Eloise Stewart Park located off US 90 in Pine Trace Acres Sub-Division
W.N. “Ben” Blair Park
W.N. “Ben” Blair Park is located on E US 90 approximately 2 miles west of County Road 255. A beautiful park nestled under Live Oak trees provides a picnic area with grills and playground equipment. A one mile walk track meanders through newly planted long-leaf yellow pines.
McMullen House
Step back in time to the 1850’s with a visit to McMullen House. An 1850’s homestead is inclusive with log home, kitchen, corn crib, smoke house and outhouse. The McMullen House is an excellent example of a mid-nineteenth century log house. The house is possibly part of a larger plantation, perhaps dating to 1844, when James McMullen first leased the plantation and the thirty-two slaves belonging to it, from Thomas Livingston. At that time, the plantation was known as the Peach Orchard, and James McMullen paid two thousand dollars for one year’s lease (Madison County Records, January 10, 1844.)
Family legend states that David James McMullen built the house after returning from the Civil War. According to Kenneth McMullen, David James McMullen’s grandson, the house took five years to build. At the same time the house was built, a kitchen constructed of round logs was built east of the house, and the smoke house, construction dates unknown, the dining room adjacent to the kitchen, c 1910 and the barn, construction date unknown (Kenneth McMullen, personal communication 1993: Lucille Davis, personal communication 1993).
Today, all that stands of the once busy farmstead is the McMullen House, including the original hewn log house, the dining room, the kitchen, and the addition which connects those two structures to the main house built sometime after the last McMullen family moved out in 1923.
The McMullen House, whether single-handedly crafted by David James McMullen in five years after the Civil War or created through the labor of thirty slaves a generation earlier, is an excellent example of a hewn log house. The house sat one-half mile to the west of the Suwannee River, in a grove containing an old pecan tree and fruit trees. Originally, the grove was surrounded by cotton or sugar cane, but the last crop planted was pine trees, and so it has remained. A lump of masonry stands watch over were the cane mill used to sit; the site is now a car park for hunters.
The house is constructed of long leaf pine, also known as southern yellow pine, hewn square. The corner notching is the full dovetail notch. On the interior of the house, the cracks between the logs have been planked over by strips of pine, making it difficult to determine what materials were used for chinking and daubing. The close fit of the logs, due to the hewing and the notching, allow for the possibility that chinking and daubing were neither necessary nor needed.
The foundation consists of log “sleepers”, heavy logs turned on their sides on grade. The sill logs were laid directly on top of these sleepers. The sleepers were made of long leaf pine. The roof consisted of pine shingles hand-split with a froe. The purlins, to which the shingles were attached, are still present. Originally the chimney was constructed of rock and mud from the Suwannee River, however, because brick shards have been found in the vicinity of the chimney, it can be assumed that at some later date, after 1923, the chimney and fireplace were reconstructed of brick.
The restoration of the McMullen House was accomplished with the assistance of the Lee community. The Town of Lee received state recognition due in fact to the communities endeavor to work cooperatively to accomplish the restoration, promote tourist development, and the preservation of a historic building. The Town of Lee was named the “Community of the Year” – one of three designated areas in the state of Florida in 2000.
The McMullen House was donated by Suwannee River Water Management
The Smoke House was donated by The Alderman Family
The Kitchen which now sets behind the McMullen House was donated by Tom & Ann Prator
The Corn Crib which sets to the back right corner was donated by
Joe and Joann Harrell
The Outhouse which is now to the south of the building was donated by Betty Slaughter
Louis DeMotsis Park.
Louis DeMotsis Park is located at the City Hall Complex. Come spend the day or afternoon and enjoy our facilities. Our pavilion has picnic tables and grills available for family gatherings. Children’s playground equipment and tennis courts are there for your enjoyment. A quarter mile walk track surrounds Lake Brittany – a two acre pond that is stocked with catfish, brim and bass is open for fishing the second Saturday of every month(March thru November). A softball field is available for those more athletic. If organized sports are of interest, they are played in the spring and summer months – call City Hall for more information.