Before the Shepards owned the house in what is now Shepard Park it was owned by George W. Perkins and his wife, Dorothy. Perkins was an associate of J. P. Morgan and was a powerful insurance executive and industrialist.
It is so much fun to research subjects that have been on my radar for years but now I can go back and use the Internet to find photographs, newspaper articles, and fascinating details.
The Perkins house was built by Hubert Bessey, considered to be Stuart’s founding pioneer. After the house with four acres bordering Frazier Creek and the South Fork of the St. Lucie River was sold to Perkins, Fred Schultz, a German landscaper with a long history on Jupiter Island, supervised constructing seawalls and filling low places by bringing in muck obtained from the other side of the river in lighters. Trees of many varieties were then planted. According to newspaper articles the Perkins Estate was the most beautiful on Florida’s East Coast. Pioneer, Ike Craig was the caretaker.
It was the photographs I acquired from photographer, Clyde Coutant’s daughter, Norie Neff, that made me want to create blogs about Shepard Park in the first place.
(Coutant photograph)
William H. Shepard was said to have planted coconuts whenever he could, both on his estate and along the railway tracks through Stuart. (Coutant photograph)
One of the earliest aerials taken by Arthur Ruhnke shows the Perkin/Shepard residence. Since it is dated August 1948, and articles found using http://newspapers.com, reveal the fire occurred on March 4, 1947, we know the house was already damaged. When the photograph is enlarged it looks like the southwest wing has no roof.
The elder Shepards had died by the time of the fire but their daughters had opened the house for the season. Mrs. Shepard’s sister and her grandson were fishing in the Gulf Stream with Capt. Walter Johns when the fire broke out.
The family offered to sell the estate to the City of Stuart for a park. Thank heaven officials took them up on the offer.
