Image Number

• VF0080

Year

• Not before 1996

Series Title

• General: Visit Florida Collection

General Note

• An historical marker outside reads, "Evidence points to George Proctor, a free black man, as the probable builder of this structure in 1843. The house was a wedding gift for Catherine Gamble, the bride of attorney Thomas Hagner. In 1865 the house was used as a temporary Union Headquarters by Brigadier General McCook. On May 20, 1865, McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation from the front steps of the house, declaring freedom for all slaves in the Florida Panhandle."
• "After the Civil War a locally prominent physician, George Betton, bought the house, bringing with him a young buggy driver named William Gunn, a former slave. When Gunn expressed an interest in learning medicine, Betton funded his study at medical school and helped him establish a practice in Tallahassee. Gunn became Florida's first black physician."
• "In 1928 the Knott family acquired the house, had the front columns added and lived here until 1985. William Knott served the State of Florida for over 40 years as its first State Tax Auditor, as Comptroller, and Treasurer. His wife Luella Knott was an artist, musician, and poet. She named her home "The House That Rhymes," and filled it with Victorian era furnishings. Almost every piece is adorned with a poem narrating history and moral lessons, written with charm and wit. Luella was also a political activist. The sale of alcohol was banned in the state's capital for over fifty years, in part because of Mrs. Knott's involvement with the temperance movement."
• "Visit Florida" operates under a contract with the Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development as Florida's tourism marketing agency. "Visit Florida" is not a government agency, but rather a not-for-profit corporation created as a public/private partnership by the Florida Legislature in 1996.

Rights

• 

Photographer/Personal Author

• Stanyard, Ray.

Physical Description

• 1 slide - col.

Subject Term

• Dining tables
• Interior views
• Period rooms
• Houses--Florida--Tallahassee
• Home furnishings
• Service industries--Florida--Tallahassee
• Tourism--Florida--Tallahassee
• Historic buildings--Florida--Tallahassee
• Public institutions--Florida--Tallahassee
• Museums--Florida--Tallahassee
• Dwellings--Florida--Tallahassee
• Decoration and ornament
• Interior decoration
• House furnishings
• Dining rooms
• Dining room furniture

Geographic Term

• Leon County (Fla.)
• 301 East Park Avenue (Tallahassee, Fla.)

Personal Subject

• Knott family (Tallahassee, Fla.)--Homes and haunts.

Subject Corporate

• Knott House (Tallahassee, Fla.)
• Knott House Museum (Tallahassee, Fla.)
• Visit Florida.
• Florida. Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development.