"It's been a national historic landmark for about 40 years,” said Dr. Ashley Robertson.
A two-story home in Volusia County home stands as a monument to the woman who changed the world.
"She was a woman that was before her time,” Robertson said of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
Bethune wanted to be a missionary to Africa. Robertson said, after she was told ‘no,’ Bethune instead created a school that went on to catch the attention of Nobel Peace Prize winners, baseball players and Eleanor Roosevelt. During a long friendship, Roosevelt shared the cover of Ebony Magazine with Miss Bethune.
"There is a room upstairs dedicated to her,” Robertson said of Roosevelt.
Robertson is the curator and director of the Mary McCloud Bethune Foundation in Daytona Beach. She welcomes visitors to stroll Bethune’s home that tells the story of the educator.
Bethune left Palatka, Florida to move to Daytona Beach and start a school for children of railroad employees. She didn't move directly into the house. Instead, she had only $1.50 in her pocket.
"She started the school with five little girls,” Robertson said.
Today, more than 3,500 students attend Bethune-Cookman University. The house sits right in the heart of campus. Guided tours are given by students like Shaunna Glanton.
"This is my favorite room. This is Dr. Bethune's room,” Glanton proudly stated while leading an afternoon tour.
Visitors will travel through the home office, living room, dining room and kitchen. Upstairs, they can visit the room named after Roosevelt.
The home was purchased in 1914 for Bethune by James Norris Gamble of Cincinnati’s Proctor and Gamble. Robertson said Gamble teamed up with Thomas White of the White Sewing Machine Company to buy the home after believing in Bethune’s mission.
"It was really the favor that was over her life that allowed her to come in contact with these people,” Robertson, who is a Bethune scholar, said. “People like the Gambles, people like John D. Rockefeller, all these influential people she was able to attract because of the mission of her school."
She lived in the home from 1915 until her death in 1955. Today, the artifacts of Bethune's life are on display, including her elephant collection.
"Her grandson is 93, and he remembers playing on the elephants [in the yard] as a child," Robertson said.
The house, belonging to the woman who instilled inspiration, continues to shine.
“She was the first of her parents' children born free. She literally rose from the cotton fields to work for four different United States presidents,” Robertson shared. “So when you can look at that, in a time like this, and you can kinda apply that to your life, what are the lessons from Miss Bethune, how was she able to do so much with so little. It's really a charge for you to be better.”
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