- April 22, 2025
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Nicole Rissler said when she took over as director of Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources, the first thing someone said to her was, "That's wonderful. When are we going to get that farmhouse done?"
On April 2, Sarasota County celebrated the restoration of the Keith Farmhouse with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Built in 1916, the farmhouse, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is considered one of Sarasota County's most significant historic structures.
Completion of the renovations means the space is now ready to be turned into an interpretive center highlighting the area's history, archaeology and native habitats.
"This recently completed project wraps up a long-term effort towards restoring this significant historic building," said Rissler.
The ceremony was attended by all three past Sarasota County parks directors, Walt Rothenbach, John McCarthy and Carolyn Brown.
When Edson Keith bought the 60-acre property after his retirement from the hat-making business in Chicago, he lived in the farmhouse, a Sears catalog home, until the completion of the Edson Keith Mansion.
The house then became home to farm workers and household staff.
"Keith didn't feel the need to paint the baseboards and all the moldings and all, so he didn't," said Priscilla Brown, program coordinator for parks. "This was for servants. There's no landscaping outside, because you didn't landscape a servant's building."
Restoration efforts involved structural repairs, installation of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, electrical and plumbing upgrades and the addition of ADA-accessible features.
Rissler thanked various county departments for their contributions to the project, as well as the Friends of Sarasota County Parks organization, including Fred and Grace Whitehouse and Terry Redman.
Fundraising by the friends, Rissler said, totaled nearly half a million dollars, while the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources awarded two grants for the project.
Brown said she remembers talking with Kim Heuberger, a senior manager of Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources, about their desire to restore the home, at the time Brown joined the county in 2003.
"People say, 'You can just tear down that old house. No, you don't tear down old houses, you restore them, and I thought this house had something to say to people, and I still think that way," Brown said.
However, she said it still hadn't sunk in that the restoration is finally complete.
"I'm not sure that it's come in to my mind yet that this is done," she said. "It just takes a while to sense that, hey, we did it. And a lot of people worked very hard on this."
