As told to Janet A. Whitehead on January 1, 1998 by Fern Augusta Frain Whitehead
It was April 2, 1896, when David and Mary Hooker first greeted their newborn daughter, Nancy Flora, in one of the bedrooms. She was to grow up to be the mother of Mrs. C. A. Whitehead, Fern Frain, a longtime Longwood resident and our historian on this old house.
The family home was nothing fancy, no gingerbread or ornamentation, just an old Florida-style single-story Cracker home. Built up on high posts, with board and batten siding and wood shingles for its roof, it was built sturdy for a sturdy, hard-working family. There was a barn near the rear, to the right, for the horses and cows and farm equipment. There were acres of orange groves they planted. They tended guava bushes, peach trees, and the family garden.
The house overlooked Hooker Lake, also known as Trout Lake. As the Hooker children grew, they became very adept at catching fish out of it for dinner. Mary Hooker and her girls were known for their good cooking, and no doubt fish and cornbread and tasty vegetables and fruits from their lands supplied a lot of meals.
Porches were important, and their home had two, one on the front and one on the back, stretching across the house. As you entered the double front doors, there was a hall with a very high ceiling to funnel lake breezes through the house.
There were two rooms opening on each side of the hall, the right front one being the parlor with a big fireplace. The other three rooms were used as bedrooms. Since David’s parents, Stephen J. L. Hooker and his wife Nancy hodges hooker lived there too, the rooms weren’t wasted.
The busiest, most popular room of all was in the back of the house, the kitchen, where Fern remembers a long table that always seemed to be full of people who were grateful to be eating there. Told you they were good cooks!
Editor’s Note: This relates to the Hooker Homestead, on the east side of Trout Lake and across the lake from Milwee Middle School. The original house has been moved but still exists (highly modified) as the core of a house within the same subdivision now closer to Lake Griffin.