George Adderley House, Historic Bahamian residence at Crane Point, Marathon, United States.
The George Adderley House is a single-story home at 5550 Overseas Highway, within Crane Point Museum & Nature Center in Marathon. George Adderley built it from 1903 to 1905 using tabby, a homemade mixture of burnt shell, ashes, sand, shell and water. A small outbuilding stands nearby, the remnant of the community called Adderley Town.
The house was built between 1903 and 1905 after George Adderley immigrated from the Bahamas and acquired 32 acres of land. This early construction marks an important chapter in the settlement history of the Florida Keys.
George Adderley was an Episcopal lay preacher who held services in the house, and a community of 6 to 10 households, known as Adderley Town, grew up around the couple. Every January, Crane Point hosts a Bahamian Heritage Festival celebrating the Bahamian heritage of the Florida Keys.
The house stands at 5550 Overseas Highway inside Crane Point Museum & Nature Center, and entry to the house is covered by the nature center's admission fee. Visitors walk through the rooms on their own rather than on a scheduled tour. The Museum of Natural History of the Florida Keys, on the same site, displays tools and utensils excavated at the Adderley Town site.
The house is the only surviving tabby building in the Florida Keys, not the whole state. Tabby is a homemade mix of burnt shell, ashes, sand, shell and water. George Adderley, a Bahamian immigrant, built it from 1903 to 1905 on his 32-acre property.
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