Looking at the beautiful, arched roofs and quaint, yellow paint of the Gothic Revival-style home located at 195 S. Roscoe Blvd., you might not see the generations of legacy stirring within, but this 3,588-square-foot residence might just have the honor of being the oldest surviving home in Ponte Vedra.
Though it now lives on the sparkling waters of the Intracoastal Waterway, this historic home was once a residence in Mandarin. That’s more than 22 miles away by land, but the property in Ponte Vedra is indeed the same house as Mandarin, so how did it end up in an entirely different ZIP code?
By barge.
195 S. Roscoe was built back in 1870 on the banks of Old Mandarin, just a few properties away from the residence of Harriet Beecher Stowe.
It belonged to the Folds family for nearly its entire lifetime in the Mandarin area, but by 1983, the property and surrounding area were owned by a developer looking to knock down the structures in favor of a new housing development.
A demolition contractor and house mover by the name of Philip LaRue heard about the developer’s plans to demolish the historic home and offered to move the property for free if it was donated to him.
The exchange went through, and LaRue carefully loaded the 113-year-old home on his barge and took it on a peaceful journey from the St. Johns River, beneath the old Palm Valley Bridge, and to its new home at 195 S. Roscoe Blvd. directly beside another historic home moved from Arlington.
For several years after landing in Ponte Vedra, the property functioned as both a plant nursery and a fish camp, seemingly retired from its days as a home. Then, in 1996, it was purchased by a family who were ready to undertake the severe renovations it so desperately needed.
Before the sale went through, veteran contractor and community legend Tom Trout appraised the home and declared it structurally sound, amassing almost no damage from its long trek across the waterways a decade before.
Once the property became a home yet again, its several generations of owners each made slight renovations to improve the livability of the home without altering its historic cosmetic appeal too severely.
The kitchen areas (there is a kitchenette located on the second floor) have seen upgrades, as well as improvements to bathrooms and bedrooms, but much of the property remains as it was in its prime.
The floor-to-ceiling windows in the main home’s office are 100% original, as well as the deep mahogany mantels on the three-story-tall fireplace and the internal, wooden structure of the home itself. Beneath decorative laminate, the original floors of the property are still intact and unharmed, as well.
While bathroom tiles, doors, shutters and windows might not be the same fixtures from 1870, the home is marked as a designated historic property, and thus, all replacement fixtures are modeled to look like the original ones.
The property has only seen seven owners in its 155-year lifespan and is currently in the market for its eighth.
Whomever the property belongs to next, they’ll inherit more than four walls and some windows; they’ll be signing up for a rich chapter of local history and a house that’s seen things most people can only dream of.
This article was compiled with public information and recollections from community members associated with the history of 195 S. Roscoe Blvd.
