SCCF Since 2011
Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Hammerheads [volunteers], the original Bailey house has been updated with a new home front porch, new siding replacement on parts of the house and the “Honey House,” window, floor and wall repair, and a new deck connecting the original home to the Honey House.
The Conservation Gateway, at the head of the Shipley Trail, another project the Hammerheads helped with, provides information about SCCF’s nonprofit environmental colleagues, as well as the Sanibel Historical Museum and Village, the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum, the Captiva Cruises’ dolphin trips narrated by SCCF docents, CROW, the “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, the Sanibel Sea School, SCCF’s Nature Center and the locations of walking trails on the island.
About 75 percent of the projects are done, and the next few months will include adding final touches to the pavilion, grading pathways and parking area, and finishing the interior layout of the house. The interior will be used as an educational and office space with displays of conservation on the islands.
Garden Center staff has implemented fantastic plans at the Bailey Homestead Preserve. Because of its agricultural history, it is a great place for teaching ethnobotany and sustainable home gardening, particularly through the use of an edible classroom growing on the property. The Honey House was refurbished for a nursery shop and office. The nursery plans to grow and sell Bailey heirloom tomatoes, honoring the crop that was Sanibel’s pride before the hurricane of 1944 ended farming on the islands.
The Bailey Homestead Preserve property will function as a wonderful interpretive site to promote native plantings and living with wildlife, as well as protecting the important uplands and wetlands of Sanibel.