Merrick-Simmons House - Fernandina Beach, FL
N 30° 40.145 W 081° 27.440
17R E 456189 N 3393018
The Merrick-Simmons House, also known as the C.W. Lewis House, is located in Fernandina Beach, Florida, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Waymark Code: WMA5XG
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 11/21/2010
Views: 2
From the
Florida Division of Historical Resources website:
"Fernandina Beach MERRICK-SIMMONS HOUSE 102 S. 10th St. 1861+. Greek Revival. 2 and a half stories, frame, front portico has 2-story porch. One of the few remaining buildings constructed in the city before the Civil War. Early owner was Miss Chloe Merrick, a school teacher from the North who ran an orphanage after the Civil War. Presently used for apartments. Private. N.R. 1983."
The following is a biography of Chloe Merrick posted on the Great Floridians 2000 Program website (visit link): "Chloe Merrick was born in Syracuse, New York in 1832. She taught in Syracuse public schools from 1854 to 1856, and in 1863 responded to a plea to help with slaves who had fled to the Union Army lines. Arriving in Fernandina, she found more than 700 African-Americans living on Amelia Island. She opened a Freedmen’s School where she taught and helped the needy. Merrick also organized the Orphan Asylum at Fernandina and is the only educator cited by name in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands monthly education reports from Florida. In 1869 she married Harrison M. Reed, governor of Florida, influencing legislation to address social problems, including education and relief for the poor. Chloe Merrick Reed died in 1897. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Simmons-Merrick House, 102 South 10th Street, Fernandina Beach."