Axline-Brice-Barnes House | Alachua County, Florida | built between 1885-1889
This is a private home and not open to the public.
This picturesque home was built in the late 1880s in a quiet citrus farming community called Cross Creek in North Florida. Cross Creek flourished for a time with the boom of Florida citrus but devastating freezes changed the way of life here. The industry left and the community dwindled, but this unique home, once called ‘The Grove,’ still stands, marking a bygone era.
Cross Creek, Florida
Situated between two Florida lakes, the community of Cross Creek emerged as a citrus growing center in the late 1800s as the railroads opened up new opportunities in Florida following the Civil War. Fueled by the arrival of the trains, a citrus boom focused in North Central Florida attracted Northern investors and later, transplants. Cross Creek and other nearby communities like Island Grove, Rochelle, and Hawthorne saw the arrival of new families who were drawn to the weather and agricultural prospects of the area.
Jasper Axline
One such investor was Jasper Axline (1848-1900) from Cincinnati, Ohio. Axline was engaged in various business endeavors in Ohio and found so much success that he was able to build a fanciful winter home in Florida on a citrus grove where he grew oranges. Jasper Axline hired the best craftsmen in the area who worked on this house for 4 years, from 1885-1889. The home was built in a typical fashion for the era, however, this home has several features that make it unique from other houses of this form, thanks to the skilled team that he hired to construct this home. Some of the more interesting features are the downstairs kitchen, included in the indoor footprint at a time when most kitchens were built as an extension of the home. The Axline House was also unique in that it had 2 interior chimneys and featured intricate woodwork, both inside and outside the home- much of which still survives today.
Jasper Axline and his wife, Rachel Alice Betts Axline (1849-1915), spent many winter seasons in this home, returning to their home in Ohio the rest of the year until Jasper passed away in 1900. Their Florida home passed to their children who sold the home to William Riley Brice in 1910.
The Brice Family
William Riley (W.R.) Brice (1861-1945) and his wife, Mattie Martin Brice (1871-1945) called this place home for the following years while farming the citrus groves which surrounded their home. They lived here with their 6 children and came to call this “The Grove House.” They became significant members of their Cross Creek community. Famous Florida author, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, mentioned the Brice Family as her closest neighbors and came to call W.R, “Boss Brice.”
Since the Brice Family, this home has been owned by the Haynes Family, which means that the house has only had 3 families in 135+ years. In 2015, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
This is a private home and not open to the public.
