Tours
Tours of the Matheson House are currently unavailable. Learn more about the House Rehabilitation Project here: https://mathesonmuseum.org/matheson-house-rehabilitation-project/.
Accessibility
The Matheson House has an ADA accessible ramp. There is also one wheelchair accessible parking spot behind the house.
History of the House
The Matheson House, one of the three oldest residences in Gainesville, was completed in the late 1850s by Alexander Matheson, an emigrant from Camden, South Carolina. The 1860 federal census shows Alexander and his wife, Harriet Mary Perry, were living on this property with four of their children and three enslaved servants. Alexander also owned a cotton plantation in northwest Alachua County with 21 enslaved workers living on that property. Alexander’s wife, Harriet, was niece to Madison Starke Perry, 4th governor of Florida and Alachua County plantation owner.
After the Civil War began, the Mathesons returned to South Carolina and Alexander enlisted in the Confederate Army.
Alexander’s brother, James Douglas (JD) Matheson, served in the 7th Regiment of the South Carolina Confederate Cavalry under General Robert E. Lee. He was at Appomattox Courthouse when Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. After the Civil War JD moved to Gainesville and eventually opened a mercantile store downtown. In 1867 he married Augusta Florida Steele of Cedar Key, and they acquired his brother Alexander’s former house.
The house was then bequeathed to JD and Augusta’s son, Christopher, who served as the mayor of Gainesville from 1910 through 1917; was a state legislator; and later became a Presbyterian minister in Oklahoma. His wife, Sarah Hamilton Matheson, was the first female elder at First Presbyterian Church in Gainesville. For more than 30 years she served as a church visitor – spending time with church members who were shut-ins or hospitalized.
As a former teacher, Sarah had a heart for students. She worked as the hostess in charge of the Presbyterian Student Center at UF and worked with the Council of International Friendship at UF to help welcome foreign students.
Except for her decades of service to the Presbyterian Church, her next longest membership was with the Church Women United, an interfaith, interracial organization. She served on its local, state, and national boards, including as the president of the state organization in the early 1960s. In 1983 CWU honored her with the Valiant Woman Award.
Sarah helped form the Alachua County Historical Society and served as its president. She was also a founding Board member of the Matheson Historical Center (now the Matheson History Museum), which opened in 1994. Sarah deeded the Matheson House to the Matheson Historical Center upon her death in 1996. Her wish was that the House be used as a community space for sharing local history.
Architecture
A blend of South Carolina plantation and classic revival raised cottage architecture, the Matheson House incorporates Gothic decorative elements in roof finials and an interior stairway. The gambrel roof and ceiling-to-ground porch columns are uncommon in Florida. Inside, period furniture and personal possessions are a testament to the Matheson family’s history and also reveal the early history of Gainesville.
More information on the Matheson House and the Matheson family is available in Murray Laurie’s 1999 book, “The Matheson House of Gainesville, Florida: Sheltering the Past.” Copies are available in the Matheson’s research library.
Matheson History Museum 