page_title: The Grove Plantation
section_title: Grove Hotel
hierarchical_section_title: The Grove Plantation / Grove Hotel
caption_attribution_description: English: Grove Hotel postcard, Tallahassee, Florida
context_page_description: The Grove, known officially as the Call/Collins House at The Grove, is an antebellum plantation house located in Tallahassee Leon County, Florida. Territorial Governor Richard Keith Call constructed The Grove circa 1840. By 1851, Call deeded the property to his daughter, Ellen Call Long, who owned it until 1903. Long's granddaughter, Reinette Long Hunt, acquired the property and owned it until her death in 1940. Hunt opened The Grove Hotel during this era and developed onsite cottages that served as rental properties. After a brief period under the ownership of John W. Ford and Josephine Agler, future Florida governor LeRoy Collins and his wife, Mary Call Darby Collins, a great-granddaughter of Richard Keith Call, bought The Grove.
  Mary Call Darby Collins was the last of Call's descendants to own The Grove. During LeRoy Collins' tenure as governor, The Grove served as the unofficial executive residence while the current Florida Governor's Mansion was under construction, from 1955 to 1957. The Collins family owned The Grove until 1985, when the state of Florida acquired the property for the purpose of creating a state historic house museum.
context_section_description: Reinette Long Hunt owned The Grove from 1903 until her death in 1940. She and her husband, Charles Hunt, were divorced in 1911. Like her grandmother before her, Reinette faced the difficulties of maintaining The Grove as a single woman in an era when men dominated the business, political, and the legal systems of society. Reinette presided over a salon-like atmosphere at The Grove. She opened her home as an artist studio, from which she sold artwork and taught art classes. She was also the last member of the family to own Orchard Pond plantation, which she rented out to Tennent Ronalds, a wealthy Scotsman who owned the adjacent Live Oak Plantation. Ronalds used the plantation for quail hunting. By 1916, Ronalds bought Orchard Pond from Reinette, ending over 70 years of direct association between members of the Call family and the property. Reinette developed friendships with many of the elite northerners who moved to Tallahassee at this time, including Frances C. Griscom, a champion amateur golfer. This friendship inspired Reinette to open The Grove to the newly formed Tallahassee Country Club. The Grove served as its first clubhouse and the adjacent grounds included a few golf holes. In the late 1910s, Reinette Long Hunt entered into a partnership with John Aldridge to form the Leon Storage and Seed Company, a short-lived company.
  By the 1920s, Reinette started The Grove Hotel. She marketed The Grove as "The Home of the Tallahassee Girl" after the Maurice Thompson novel of the same name, of which Eleanora Long Hollinger, the daughter of Ellen Call Long, was widely believed to be the inspiration for the protagonist of the story. The Grove Hotel's location near the Governor's Mansion made it ideal for visiting politicians and lawyers. Among the renters were Richard Ervin, a future chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court. He rented out the entire second floor during the 1920s. In 1924, the Tallahassee Centennial celebrations were held at The Grove. A grandstand was constructed and people watched as separate plays were held for white and black audiences on different days, at least one of which was written by Reinette herself. In an effort to generate additional income, Reinette also constructed three small cottages on the property and repurposed the old silkworm cottage into a residential building.
  On New Year's Day, 1934, The Grove caught fire. The fire was largely relegated to the attic and roof, but caused significant damage. Richard Call Long Jr., Reinette's brother, died from injuries sustained while fighting the fire. Perhaps as a way of protecting the cemetery in the wake of her financial troubles, Reinette deeded it to the local Masonic Lodge, Jackson Lodge Number One, before her death. Despite her best efforts, Reinette could not stave off creditors, and was on the verge of subdividing the rest of the property surrounding The Grove when she died in 1940. The property passed to John W. Ford and Josephine Ford Agler, her distant cousins and the grandchildren of Ohio industrialist Joseph Green Butler. After a brief period under their ownership, the property passed to LeRoy Collins and his wife Mary Call Darby Collins.
caption: The Grove Hotel Postcard, ca. 1920s
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