Mandarin Museum News

October 2024

Embrace the Mandarin Experience

Photo courtesy of Olis Garber. More fundraising dinner photos can be found here.

----Warmest regards,

----Brittany Cohill

----Executive Director

Click play above to watch the extended version of the video now. If you encounter any problems, copy and paste the following in your internet browser:

https://youtu.be/Y3T0vyXczoE?si=OT30QScxkgIvKW-S

Throughout the entire month of October, visit Museum Guest Services to enter for your chance to win this one-of-a-kind Halloween edition "Snake in a Mandarin Frog Costume" created by Don "Frogman" Bowden!

It is free to enter! One entry per visitor.

First Saturday @ the Museum

Saturday, October 5

10:00 am to 2:00 pm

All historic buildings throughout Walter Jones Historical Park will be open to the public. Stroll along the park's paved pathways and stop in to the 1898 St. Joseph's Mission Schoolhouse for African American Children, the 1892 Losco Winery, the 1876 Barn, and the 1875 Webb-Jones Farmhouse.

Located just down the road from Mandarin Museum & Walter Jones Historical Park, the historic Mandarin Store & Post Office will also be open to visitors (12471 Mandarin Road). Admission is free.

Mandarin Frog Painting

Saturday, October 5

10:00 am

Museum Front Lawn

Purchase, paint, and take home your very own Mandarin Frog (or sea turtle). The cost is $22 per person and advanced registration is required. To register, email info@mandarinmuseum.org. 

Meet the Maple Leaf Divers

Saturday, October 5

10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Maple Leaf Shipwreck Gallery

Meet the men who dove the Maple Leaf Shipwreck! In 1864, the Union steamboat Maple Leaf was sunk by a Confederate mine just off Mandarin Point in the St. Johns River.

In the 1980s, Dr. Keith Holland and his team located and excavated the site. Now a designated National Historic Landmark, the nearly 3,000 artifacts his team recovered have been entrusted to the State of Florida for preservation. Mandarin Museum displays many of these artifacts through a long-term partnership with the State Archives.

The Maple Leaf Divers will be in the gallery from 10:00 am to noon, this Saturday, October 5th. This is an informal, conversational-style event. Drop in to hear their story of discovery, recovery, and preservation.

Music Under the Oaks

Sunday, October 6

2:00 to 4:00 pm

Museum Front Lawn

Join Mandarin Museum and North Florida Folk Network for an afternoon under Mandarin's historic oak canopy. Bring your acoustic instrument and join the jam session OR bring your chair or blanket and enjoy a day in the shade, taking in the melodic sounds.

Mandarin Museum and the 1898 Schoolhouse will be open to visitors during the event. Admission is free.

Photo courtesy of Olis Garber

Exhibit Opening Reception

Evolution in Clay: A Vina Schemer Retrospective

Thursday, October 10

6:00 to 8:00 pm

Stowe Gallery at Mandarin Museum

The groves and rural character of Mandarin drew Vina Schemer to the area in 1965. Amidst this backdrop, she made her mark as an innovative studio potter and photo-ceramist, influencing and likewise drawing influence from her friends Charlie M. Brown, Memphis Wood, and fellow members of the Crown Craftsmen. Please join us for the opening reception celebrating Evolution in Clay: A Vina Schemer Retrospective.

Complimentary beverages and hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Public Unveiling of "Harriet Beecher Stowe in Mandarin"

Sunday, October 13

3:00 pm

Museum Front Lawn

More details later in this newsletter.

Third Thursday Lecture

Dr. Guy Prentice, National Park Service Archaeologist (retired)

Thursday, October 17

6:30 to 8:00 pm

Mandarin Community Club

12447 Mandarin Rd.

Please join us as Dr. Guy Prentice presents "Andersonville Revisited: An Archaeological and Historical Study of the Civil War's Most Infamous Prison Camp."

Andersonville was viewed by the victorious Northern States as the scene of some of the worst atrocities suffered by prisoners during the American Civil War. After the war ended, the commandant of the prison camp, Capt. Henry Wirz, was tried, convicted and executed for the sufferings that the Union prisoners experienced, though many view him as a scapegoat who was wrongly blamed for the staggering number of Union prisoners that died at Andersonville from causes outside his control.

This lecture highlights 50 years of archaeology and recent historical research conducted by the speaker and includes data on the techniques used in the original construction of the prison stockade built by enslaved workers, the extension of the prison enclosure built by imprisoned Union soldiers, an attempted prisoner escape tunnel that failed before completion, and some of the crude shanties that were built by the prisoners for shelter. It also corrects some of the erroneous “facts” that have been repeated about Andersonville by prison camp survivors and modern historians.

More than a few men who lost their belongings with the sinking of the Maple Leaf in Mandarin were later imprisoned at Andersonville.

Third Thursday Lectures are presented by the Mandarin Museum & Historical Society in partnership with and held at the Mandarin Community Club, located at 12447 Mandarin Road. 

Our August 2024 Third Thursday Lecture featuring the Maple Leaf Divers is now available on Mandarin Museum's Youtube Channel.

Video recording and post-production generously provided by the wonderful Olis Garber Photography.

Special thanks to Endless Summer Roofing Co. for generously sponsoring our Fall 2024 Third Thursday Lecture Series!

Walking Tour: Historic Mandarin Cemetery

Saturday, October 26

10:00 am

Mandarin Cemetery

12135 Mandarin Rd.

Join Mandarin Museum for a guided walking tour of the historic Mandarin Cemetery on Saturday, October 26 at 10:00 am.

Your tour guides, Museum Executive Director Brittany Cohill and Cemetery President & Caretaker Joe Walsh, will lead guests through the resting place of the many people whose lives and stories have shaped the Mandarin community over the last 200 years.

Tickets are a suggested donation of $10 per person and must be reserved in advance. Space is limited.

Public Unveiling of "Harriet Beecher Stowe in Mandarin"

Sunday, October 13

3:00 pm

Mandarin Museum Front Lawn

The big day is finally upon us! The community is invited to this monumental occasion as we join with artist Brenda Councill to unveil her life-size bronze sculpture of Harriet Beecher Stowe in Walter Jones Historical Park. Many years in the making, this incredible display will honor the legacy of the famed 19th-century author, abolitionist, and winter resident of Mandarin.

Refreshments will be served. You won't want to miss Harriet's return to Mandarin as a permanent resident!

Thank you to those who committed their support to making "Harriet Beecher Stowe in Mandarin" a reality.

Orange Blossoms | $25,000 – $34,999

Rosamond Warren Allen

in honor of her great-great grandmother, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Mandarin Oaks | $10,000 – $24,999

Rosemary McCorkle

Emily and Lawrence Lisska

Thomas Davant Johns, Ph.D. and Gretchen Schaef Johns, M.D.

in memory of Thomas Joseph Agee

in honor of Sandy Arpen

Magnolias | $2500 – $9,999

Cheryl S. Cummer

Eric and Naomi Gillis

John T. Foster, Jr.

in memory Sarah Whitmer Foster

Robert Pearce and Family

in memory of Gillian Pearce

Lee and Mindy Hanna

James C. and Nancy Capps Hoover

in memory of the Hoover and Capps Families

Ferrigno Family

in honor of Hope Ferrigno

Sandy and Tracey Arpen

Colonel John T. and Judith Winkler

George Ash and Kate Arpen

Patrick Plumlee and Laura D’Alisera

in memory of their parents

Marilyn Carpenter

in memory of Pete Carpenter

Don and Pam Chandler

Janelle and Bill Watson

Derek D. and Francis M. Igou

Dr. Ian MacKenzie Farnham

Rotary Club of Mandarin

Friends of Historic Mandarin | up to $2499

Bhide & Hall Architects

Matt Carlucci Insurance Agency, Inc.

Pam Neumann

in memory of Dave Neumann and Ed Ralph

John and Leyda Cooksey

Carol Hazouri

Deborah Harmon

Jim and Renee Waler

Jay Caffey

Mel and Sheryl McNichols

in honor of Sandy Arpen

Dale Rohlfing

Bill and Judy Morrow

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Barker, IV

Virginia B. Barker

Steve and Kathy Rawlins

Elizabeth Meux

Peggy and Bill Armstrong

Carol and Jeff Anderson

Byron and Marsha Peacock

Rev. and Mrs. Roger L.D. Williams

Claire King

Bonny Councill

Jeff and Carrie Councill

Pam Neumann

in honor of Carolyn Hall and Bettye Stilley

Bettye Stilley

in honor of Pam Neumann and Carolyn Hall

Gabriele Dempsey

in memory of Ruth Heerling

Anne Morrow

Leslie Anderson

Stacy Anderson

Evalyn Campbell

John and Kathleen Holler

Payson J. Tilden

Thomas Entenza

Sam Folds, Jr.

Sherry Cavanagh Cantrell

in memory of growing up in Mandarin

Friends of Gabriele Dempsey in her honor

Courtenay Wilson

Lynn McManus

Ruth Stein

Marilyn Stein

Margaret Gellatly

Blair Woolverton

Renate Hixon

Dr. Cynthia Anderson, right, standing; Dr. Tracy Khona, seated in front

The Duval County Master Gardeners at Walter Jones Historical Park have begun an exciting transition at the Shade Garden near the 1898 Schoolhouse. Throughout the fall, winter, and spring seasons, the gardeners will focus on creating a Florida-Friendly Landscape Bed, with the goal of gaining official recognition through the UF/IFAS Florida-Friendly Landscape Program. (They've even added a wonderful little home for the park's feathered friends!)

"Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ (FFL) is the state of Florida’s premier Extension program that promotes sustainable alternatives to “conventional” landscaping, providing guidance on low-impact, environmentally friendly, science-based landscape practices that use less water and reduce pollutant loading to Florida waters."

Thank you, Duval County Master Gardeners, for being devoted friends to Mandarin Museum, Walter Jones Historical Park, and Florida's environment!

Destiny DeHart, who is currently seeking a master's degree in library and information science, is completing her required service learning project in the Mandarin Museum archives during the Fall 2024 semester. Destiny is utilizing the Jacksonville Public Library's Memory Lab to digitize archival slides once belonging to artist Lee Adams. The images document his international travels, subjects of his watercolor paintings, and more. The slides are a gift from Camille Adams Helminski and are an invaluable resource for furthering our understanding of her father's life and career.

Be a supporter of arts & culture in our community through the purchase of an annual membership! Benefits at the individual, family, and patron levels include free guided walking tours of Walter Jones Historical Park, reciprocal benefits at other museums across the nation, discounts in our Museum Shop, and more!

Every contribution made through the purchase of an annual membership enables us to fulfill our mission!

Mandarin Newsline





Read 2024 issues of the Mandarin Newsline online now!

This free newspaper allows Mandarin Museum to share history, events, and programs with the public. The newspaper remains free to readers due to the robust local advertising. Please visit, shop, and eat at those businesses who support the community in this way.

...don't forget to have fun!

Following his sister's visit to Mandarin Museum in August, we were thrilled to host Andrew Fargason and his wife Carole as they made the trip from Atlanta to see their great aunt Memphis's work on display in our most recent exhibit, Memphis Wood: Revisited. Carole - an artist, herself - waltzed into the Museum donning the cloak Memphis wore in her portrait painted by the late Mary Ann Bryan in 1977. It didn't take much convincing to get the Museum's director to try it on for a mini photo shoot. It was a wonderful and entertaining afternoon for Museum staff and volunteers!

Thank you to all our community partners!

Mandarin Museum is funded, in part, through the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the City of Jacksonville.