Home with ties to ’23 massacre for sale

Rosewood was site of race riot with at least eight killed.

ROSEWOOD — A home believed to have sheltered African-Americans hiding from a week of mob violence in 1923 is up for sale.

Known as “The John Wright House” in Levy County, it’s one of the few remaining original structures of Rosewood, the small town that was once a thriving community of black homeowners.

The community was the site of a deadly race riot that ended with homes being burned down and at least eight people killed — six of them black.

It was one of the more well-documented atrocities African-Americans endured in Florida.

The Gainesville Sun reports the two-story home and 35-acre property are just too large for the elderly owner.

Her daughter and son-inlaw are real estate agents and say they want to ensure the new owner appreciates its significance.

Inside the home lives Fujiko Scoggins, an 84-yearold Japanese woman who survived the Battle of Saipan during World War II.

She bought the home in 1977 for $90,000 with her then-husband Doyal Scoggins, a retired Air Force major.

They liked the house for its appearance and quiet surroundings but knew nothing of its history.

Five years later the story of the Rosewood Massacre surfaced.

It is believed that Wright house was used to shelter blacks hiding from the turmoil unfolding, as they escaped to other towns on a nearby train.

People hid in the surrounding woods, homes, wells and swamp, sometimes using dogs to transfer written notes back and forth.

Since the deadly events were reported in 1982 by Gary Moore, a journalist for what was then the St. Petersburg Times, the home hasn’t been up for sale — until now.