The Cookie House
Posted by: 
Markerman62
N 26° 55.517 W 082° 20.066
17R E 367509 N 2978858
Located in Cedar Point Environmental Park off Placid Rd.
Waymark Code: WMRH97
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 06/21/2016
Views: 7
The unique "Cookie House" was built c. 1931 by John Foster Bass, Jr. (1897-1939) founder of the Bass Biological Laboratory and Zoological Research Supply Company, to serve as his personal office and laboratory near the Bass home on New Point Comfort Road near Gottfried Creek. The Bass operation was the first full-time land-based marine station on the Florida mainland, where eminent naturalists, biologists and zoologists studied and identified at least 470 marine and terrestrial animals between 1931 and 1944.
The log "stovewood" construction technique and architectural style of the small one-story Cookie House are rare. Once popular among rural Wisconsin immigrant populations, no other examples are known in Florida. This practical pioneer building technique utilized local resources. Log disks cut from lighter knot pine logs were stacked on edge in cement mortar mixed with beach sand, leading to an appearance resembling brown cookies on a white plate.
As many as a dozen log cabins were built on the Bass property in the 1930s, but all of the other Bass structures have been demolished over the years. The historic Cookie House is the only one remaining today. It was relocated within the Lemon Bay estuary in 2006, moved here to Cedar Point Environmental Park in a public-private effort to ensure its preservation.
Marker Number: None
Date: 2013
County: Charlotte
Marker Type: Roadside
Sponsored or placed by: Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners
Website: Not listed
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