Tindall Pioneer House
The Tindall Pioneer Homestead, the earliest house still existing in Jupiter, was moved to the Lighthouse grounds in April of 2007. Originally located a mile up the Loxahatchee River next to the early Pennock Plantation on the south side of the river, the 1892 house was home to George Washington Tindall and Mary Pilcher Tindall and eight of their ten children. The homestead gives a glimpse of early life along the Loxahatchee for brave pioneering families.
The house was fully restored and moved here to provide the homestead exhibit. The front porch, breezeway and summer kitchen were reconstructed from photos. A non-historical ramp has been added on the east side of the breezeway for the convenience of visitors. The small replica fern shed west of the kitchen represents Jupiter’s fern growing industry at the turn of the century. On the west side of the breezeway there would have been several steps down to a path leading to a water pump where the ramp is now.
Both house and kitchen feature furniture and objects from many of our early pioneers, including the food safe and kitchen table from the Carlin House.
The building is typical of houses built by early settlers in Florida. Called cracker-style, its characteristics are a pitch roof, porches and wide eaves for shade, multiple windows and doors for light and ventilation, and slatted shutters. The roof was originally palmetto thatch, later replaced with tin due to risk of fire. Rain ran down the steep roof into a barrel or cistern, from which the occupants drew their only potable water.
Jupiter’s Historic 1915 Train Depot
Many are familiar with the story of Henry Flagler's railroad which would become the Florida East Coast Railway. By 1894 Jupiter had an FEC railroad depot on the south shore of the Loxahatchee River. In 1915 a new FEC passenger and freight depot was opened in Jupiter where Johnston Park is today. The older depot was moved a short distance next to the spur tracks where freight could be loaded/unloaded from a wharf on the river.
Jupiter's 1915 depot was one of many built by the FEC, and constructed the same as other depots from the same period. The Town of Jupiter Archives has letters from 1926 to 1928 from the Florida East Coast Railway and the State Railroad Commission regarding the Town's request to get electric lights installed at the Jupiter train station to replace the kerosene lanterns. This request was ultimately refused by the FEC due to the fact it would cost too much at $250,000.
The depot served the public well for many years! When it was closed in the mid1960's, it was moved to become a private residence in Tequesta.
Thanks to the hard work of many people from the Town of Jupiter and Tequesta, the Loxahatchee Guild, the FEC Railway, and the Florida East Coast Railway Society, the Historic Train Depot was moved to Sawfish Bay Park in the early-morning hours of April 15, 2012.
It is back home in Jupiter, very close to its original location, the main restorations are complete. The museum is open for community events by the Town of Jupiter throughout each year.
The Loxahatchee Guild was the impetus in saving, moving and restoring the Henry Flagler East Coast Railway depot in Jupiter.
The Guild contributed over $100,000 toward this project.
DuBois Park
DuBois Park, located on the Jupiter Inlet at 19075 DuBois Road in Jupiter, Florida is the site of a home built for a pineapple merchant. Restoration and redevelopment earned the park a 2012 award from the National Association of County Parks and Recreation Officials.
The Park is home to the Pineapple Packing House, as well as the DuBois Pioneer Home.
DuBois Pioneer Home
Built in 1898, the DuBois Pioneer Home is one of the last remaining historic homesteads of its type in unincorporated northern Palm Beach County. Located along the Jupiter Inlet in Palm Beach County’s DuBois Park, “the house on the hill” is an excellent example of a self-sufficient South Florida Pioneer homestead. Built by the DuBois Family atop an ancient, monumental shell mound constructed by the Jeaga people, who inhabited Jupiter Inlet at the time of European contact, this unique homestead is rich in both historical and archeological value. The DuBois Pioneer Home and Jupiter Inlet Mound are jointly listed on the National Register of Historic Places as “Jupiter Inlet Historic and Archeological Site.”
The Loxahatchee Guild helped to fund and stage the period correct décor in the house.
Pineapple House
The Pineapple House was located on a piece of property near present day U.S. Highway 1, on a plot of land where Harry DuBois farmed Pineapples. The little shed was built to store the harvested crops. Harry later purchased a plot of land, now DuBois Park, as the site of the home that he would bring his new bride home to. DuBois floated the Pineapple House up the river to DuBois Park, and lived in it while he constructed what is now the DuBois Pioneer Home atop the shell mound. Over the years the little house was used as a storage shed, and for a while was a rental house – where it got its name, The Pineapple House. According to Harry’s son John, the Pineapple House is one of the oldest wooden structures still remaining in Palm Beach County today, and it pre-dates the DuBois house by at least several years.
