Bonnet House Blog

Having previously served as the Curator at Bonnet House Museum & Gardens from 1996 to 2002, Denyse Cunningham is now absolutely delighted to return to this magical place to oversee the restoration and preservation of the beautiful 35-acre estate in Fort Lauderdale. A graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego with a degree in Fine Arts, Denyse earned her Master’s Degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine, and has been a professional curator of historical collections for over 30 years. Her field of specialization is early twentieth century decorative arts, and for the past 20 years she has worked with collections throughout southeast Florida. For the past 12 years, Denyse served as the Curator for the Broward County Historical Commission, where she did programing, exhibits, arranged the archives and assisted numerous researchers.  She is an active member of the American Alliance of Museums, the American Association of Archivists and the Society of Florida Archivists, and is a founding member of the Gold Coast Archivists.She and her husband, Bill, reside in Boca Raton, Florida.

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is recognized as a historic landmark by the City of Fort Lauderdale. The story told here spans and parallels a wide swath of American history and makes a visit both to these pages and to the estate a uniquely educational, entertaining and truly unforgettable experience. Bonnet House is located at between the Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway at 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. For more information and details, please call (954) 563-5393 or visit BonnetHouse.org

Our world-famous orchid collection is one of the many reasons why a visit to South Florida is truly not complete without time spent at beautiful, historic Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. Our greenhouses and display house hold approximately 1,200 beautiful, exotic plants in various stages of development. And as a special treat for orchid enthusiasts and novices, our popular Orchid Greenhouse Tours will resume on the second Tuesday of each month, starting August 12. Our Bonnet House Orchid Curator will show you around our greenhouses and discuss how our orchids are bred and cultivated – including our impressive seedling program, with orchid seedlings available for purchase. These tours are offered from 11am to 12pm, in groups of 15 to allow for questions and discussion, for $20 per person.

The story told at Bonnet House Museum and Gardens spans and parallels a wide swath of American history and makes a visit both to these pages and to the estate a uniquely educational and entertaining experience. Bonnet House is located at 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. Limited reservations are available, and pre-registration is required. To register, please call (954) 703-2606 or visit BonnetHouse.org.

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens will be offering morning orchid care classes, beginning in August, to help you keep your orchids healthy and blooming all year long. Classes will be held on the beautiful Bonnet House Estate, and each class will be followed by a tour of the orchid greenhouse, lathe house and display house. Orchid supplies will be available for purchase at all classes and students will receive a Bonnet House ‘baby’ orchid seedling.

All classes take place on Saturdays from 10am – 12pm. The schedule is as follows:
Orchid Basics – August 2, 2014
Orchid Repotting – August 9, 2014
Orchid Mounting – August 16, 2014
Diagnosing Pests & Diseases – August 23, 2014

The cost of each class is $30 for members and $35 for non-members. Bonnet House is located at 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. For more information or to Register, visit www.bonnethouse.org or contact Linda Schaller at [email protected] or (954) 703-2606.

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens presents Cruising Down the River: A Boat Ride Past 200 Years of History on the Carrie B Saturday, July 26, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. Hear about the history of Fort Lauderdale’s New River with featured speakers Everett Osceola from the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Educator and Historian Bill Sydnor. Enjoy Cocktails and Canapés on the Carrie B. Your admission includes 2 glasses of wine and canapés generously provided by Kelly’s Landing, Southport Raw Bar and The Downtowner. Cash bar will be available for water, soda and cocktails.

Admission is $45 for members and $55 for non-members. The yacht embarkation site is 440 North New River Drive East, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. For more information and to reserve your seat, please call (954) 703-2614, (954) 653-1554 or visit https://bonnethouse.org/calendar/.

Start your summer at half the price with Cool Saturdays Summer Special at Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. Saturdays are cool at Bonnet House beginning Saturday, July 5 through Saturday, October 4 on the first Saturday of the month. Visitors can explore the whimsical house where fish sculptures rise in the air, shells have their own museum and shady nature trails invite you to search for playful monkeys in the trees and majestic swans in the fresh water lakes. Admission is $10 for adults and free for children 12 and under from 9am to 4pm on these days.

Specific dates are July 5, August 2, September 6 and October 4. Tour admission is always free for Bonnet House members. Visit BonnetHouse.org for updated information and additional summer events including a Cruise Down the New River on July 26.

Bonnet House is located at 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. For more information and details, please contact Linda Schaller at (954) 703-2606 or [email protected].

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens is proud to announce that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award. The accolade, which honors hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveller reviews on TripAdvisor, and is extended to qualifying businesses worldwide. Establishments awarded the Certificate of Excellence are located all over the world and represent the upper echelon of businesses listed on the website.

When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners, TripAdvisor uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the honorees that takes into account reviews ratings. Businesses must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, volume and recency of reviews. Additional criteria include a business’ tenure and popularity ranking on the site.

“Winning the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence is a true source of pride for all of us at Bonnet House and we’d like to thank all of our past visitors who took the time to complete a review on TripAdvisor,” said Karen Beard, CEO at Bonnet House. “There is no greater seal of approval than being recognized by those that tour the estate”.

“TripAdvisor is pleased to honor exceptional hospitality businesses for consistent excellence,” said Marc Charron, President of TripAdvisor for Business. “The Certificate of Excellence award gives top performing establishments around the world the recognition they deserve, based on feedback from those who matter most – their customers. From Australia to Zimbabwe, we want to applaud exceptional hospitality businesses for offering TripAdvisor travellers a great customer experience.”

Bonnet House is located at 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. For more information and details, please call (954) 563-5393 or visit BonnetHouse.org.

As summer begins, Florida’s amazing color palette becomes even more resplendent. Nowhere is this explosion of bright hues more easily appreciated than at Historic Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale, one of our nation’s most popular historic houses and gardens, and perhaps its most beautiful. Located on a 35-acre slice of breathtaking waterfront property, this colorful and airy Caribbean-style house magically transports visitors to the days when Florida was one of the nation’s last frontier outposts.

Bonnet House was built in the 1920’s by artist and art collector Frederic Clay Bartlett and his wife, Helen, and it is embellished with the myriad decorative elements that delight visitors to this day. Bartlett’s vivid artistry is fully reflected throughout the house, as he painted faux marble floors, and murals on walls and wood ceilings in major rooms. Extensive areas of native vegetation including a hardwood hammock were preserved, and a marshy area to the east of the house was transformed into lagoons. The gardens and winding nature trails surrounding the house, and the wildlife inhabiting the grounds, are every bit as colorful, with swans and other water fowl gliding in the ponds, and raccoons and monkeys – yes, South American squirrel monkeys – adding to the vibrant palette.

A visit to South Florida is truly not complete without time spent at beautiful, historic Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and recognized as a historic landmark by the City of Fort Lauderdale. The story told here spans and parallels a wide swath of American history and makes a visit both to these pages and to the estate a uniquely educational, entertaining and truly unforgettable experience. Come share the colors!

Bonnet House is located at 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. For more information and details, please call (954) 563-5393 or visit BonnetHouse.org.

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens has added a four-week session of its popular Calligraphy workshop to this calendar year. This workshop, headed by Anthony Pastucci, is an advanced course beginning on Tuesday, May 6, and running from 9:30 to 11am every Tuesday through May 27 in the Island Theater.

Mr. Pastucci, a medieval history buff who draws inspiration from the Book of Hours and other illuminated manuscripts of the period, has taught calligraphy throughout the State of Florida for a quarter century. In his own words, “Calligraphy, the art of beautiful writing, can be learned by almost anyone, and will improve the student’s regular penmanship as well.”  In addition to hands-on learning of the art itself, participants will also be taught the history of pen lettering and the importance of the hand-copying of great works of antiquity, especially the Bible, in the scriptoria of the great monastic houses of the Middle Ages.

The cost of the 4-week session is $90 for members and $115 for non-members, and art supplies are included. Workshop is limited to 15 participants, reservations are required, and classes are non-refundable. Bonnet House, one of the nation’s historic houses and gardens – and perhaps its most beautiful – is located at 900 North Birch Rd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.
For more information and to register for the Calligraphy Workshop, please call (954) 563-5393 or visit www.Bonnethouse.org/adult-workshops.