Historic Haile Homestead at Kanapaha Plantation

10/25/2026

The old Haile Gold Mine is still rendering gold! Now owned by OceanaGold Haile Gold Mine, gold was originally discovered there in 1827 by Thomas E. Haile's father Benjamin Haile II.

Some of the best moments in our community happen when we come together. 💛

And we hope you’ll join us for one of those special moments as we celebrate the historic Haile Gold Mine Schoolhouse and open our doors for an afternoon dedicated to our neighbors!

The schoolhouse has long been part of our community’s story, and preserving it has been a meaningful journey. Now, we’re excited to share its next chapter with the people who make this community so special.

🏫 Celebrate our shared history! Tour the beautifully preserved schoolhouse and join us for a special ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5 p.m.

⛏️ Connect with your neighbors at Haile! Meet our team, learn more about our operations, explore displays and ask the questions that matter to you.

🤝 Spend some time together! Enjoy refreshments, good conversation and a chance to celebrate the history and connections that make Kershaw home.

📅 Thursday, October 22 | 4–7 p.m.

📍 Historic Haile Gold Mine Schoolhouse | 138 East Marion Street, Kershaw

This celebration is for YOU—our neighbors, friends and community. Whether you have a personal connection to the schoolhouse, have followed its preservation journey or are simply curious about Haile Gold Mine, we’d love to see you there!

Come as neighbors. Leave knowing us a little better. 💛

09/16/2026

This Saturday in Waldo!

The Waldo-Hawthorne-Campville-Rochelle Subcommittee of the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project will hold a historical marker installation ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, at Veterans Memorial Park at the Caboose (14705 NE Waldo Road, Waldo).

The ceremony is open to the public and will commemorate victims of racial terror lynchings in the Waldo, Hawthorne, Campville and Rochelle communities.

Held in partnership with Alachua County and the Equal Justice Initiative, the event is part of a broader effort to educate the community about racial terror lynchings throughout Alachua County during the Jim Crow era and advance truth and reconciliation.

“Alachua County is proud to have been a partner in the Truth and Reconciliation Project over the years,” said Carl Smart, Alachua County’s executive liaison for public safety and community relations. “Programs like this help educate our community, preserve our history and foster healing.”

07/21/2026

This morning an impressive buck was there to greet us when we opened up the Homestead for a group tour. Thanks to the UF Retired Faculty group for making us part of your day!

07/15/2026

The Historic Haile Homestead is missing something – YOU!
Join our team of volunteers and share the history of the Kelley family, the Haile family and the plantation’s enslaved laborers with our community. We need volunteer docents to lead tours of the house and/or staff the Allen & Ethel Graham Visitors Center. Each docent volunteers for one 4-hour shift per month because the Homestead is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. Training provided. Visit our website at https://www.hailehomestead.org/how-to-help for more information about training and benefits.

HHH Inc. is funded in part by Visit Gainesville/Alachua County.

06/24/2026

The Historic Haile Homestead once had a swept yard. An enslaved person would have done the sweeping.

06/19/2026

Think on this.

For : On June 19, 1865, two months after the Confederacy surrendered and more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union troops finally arrived in Texas, the westernmost Confederate state, and spread the word there that freedom was the law of the land.

About 70 years later, workers from the Federal Writers' Project arm of the Works Progress Administration started traveling around the U.S. collecting the stories of elderly Americans who still had firsthand accounts of being enslaved. Many of the people who were interviewed were also photographed. The Library has preserved these stories and images.

This photo is of Betty Simmons, who said she was more than 100 years old when she was interviewed in 1937 in Beaumont, Texas. She said she was married during slave times, and widowed, but was very happy that freedom came when it did because her enslavers were preparing to put her 3-year-old child to work in the fields.

Explore the narratives: https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/?loclr=fbloc

Image: Betty Simmons, Age about 100. Taken between 1936 and 1938. WPA Slave Narrative Project: Container, A932, vol. 16, part 4. Federal Writer's Project, United States Work Projects Administration (USWPA). Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

An old African American woman in a button down dress stands in front of a chair with her hands clasped, looking at the camera. The chair is outside, positioned in front of a house. A younger woman stands on the porch behind her.

06/19/2026

Happy Juneteenth! See Juneteenth celebration events in Gainesville below!

Happy Juneteenth!

Join your neighbors and the City of Gainesville at Bo Diddley Plaza today for the Juneteenth National Holiday Celebration 10am-12pm and Freedom Fest tomorrow 3pm-9pm.

Today's free event includes performances by David Richardson Band and Soul Fire, 1000 Voices of Florida choir and Howard Bishop Middle School Liturgical dancers. There will also be a speech by Mangnye Vivian Filer.

Freedom Fest is a free music and arts festival featuring live performances, food trucks, art exhibits, small business vendors, community organization booths, fun festivities for children including a bounce house and popcorn machine, an Elders' Corner and more!

Complete details: https://www.gainesvillefl.gov/Juneteenth

05/19/2026

Thanks to the PrimeTimers from Temple Baptist Church in Titusville for visiting today! We got the whole tour in before the rain!

05/10/2026

Looks like the rain is out of the way for today. Come visit us! We open at noon and our last tour begins at 2:45 pm!

04/30/2026

The Amazing Give is going on NOW!! Please help!
Historic Haile Homestead Inc. is raising $4,000 to remove or trim up a compromised water oak and winged elm tree that could damage or destroy the newly opened Kitchen. There is also a very dead pine tree in our parking circle that could fall. Any contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps.

Donations are currently being accepted. Just click on the link to find our donation page! Click here to donate:
https://www.theamazinggive.org/organizations/historic-haile-homestead-inc

Thank you in advance!