Safford House offers look at progressive founding family of Tarpon Springs
And that love has led her to volunteer at the Stafford House, a Victorian-era home and one of the oldest in Tarpon Springs. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“I love history,” she confirmed. “Once you start reading it, you will become obsessed with it.”
As a volunteer, Morgan tells visitors about the beginnings of Tarpon Springs at the Stafford House.
The home was built in 1883 and owned by Anson P.K. Safford, a former governor of the Arizona Territory who helped found Tarpon Springs.
He did so along with his medical pioneer sister, Dr. Mary Jane Safford.
The restored home sits just off the Spring Bayou waterfront, its original location. The bottom floor holds the dining and living rooms, along with offices for both siblings.
“And in his will, Governor Safford left (his original desk) to his favorite servant, whose grandson still lived (in the home)., Morgan said. “When we started to redo the house, he donated it back to the historical society, which loaned it to us.”
And next door was his sister: the suffragette, abolitionist, gynecologist, and writer for young girls.
“She was a huge advocate for women’s health, especially dress reform. She was very anti-corset,” said Hennessee Weller, Patron Services Coordinator at the Tarpon Arts Department of Cultural and Civic Services.
“When she was studying in Europe, she was the first woman to successfully remove an ovary surgically.”
The Stafford House had even more progress: -indoor plumbing, with a few caveats.
“This bathroom was only run by gravity,” said Morgan.
A cistern on the roof collected water for these utilities.
“However, if you were in a drought and a cistern were empty. You didn’t – you couldn’t
use this bathroom,” she said. “You would still have to have an outhouse. So it was a huge step forward, but still not the bathroom you and I know.”
The bedrooms are adorned in period pieces like the rest of the home, with their original fireplaces, all of this taking you back to before Tarpon Springs incorporated in 1887, as the first city in Pinellas County.
For Morgan, a retired teacher and librarian, there is continuity in this history.
“And knowing that wasn’t really that long ago,” Morgan said. “I mean, my grandmother was alive when these people were alive.”
