20/01/2023
Every amazing home has a story. Here's ours:
It was the late 1800’s. Summer Haven in St Johns County was a quaint cottage community where the local farmers escaped to cool off during the summers. It was a quiet and discreet place to relax after a season of plowing and planting. It stayed quiet until it was discovered by Thomas A. Mellon, one of the heirs to the Mellon banking and industrial fortune family. From a place where the locals got off the farm and enjoyed the ocean and hunting on the virgin grounds surrounding it, it became further developed by Thomas to allow for a grandiose estate on the water. This set a new vibe to the area which was now beginning to be frequented by celebrities, those of high society, and the wealthy elite. It was not surprising to find guests such as authors, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Robert Frost, and also some of Hollywood’s favorites, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and other most interesting guests such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, C.V. Whitney, founder of Marineland, Owen D. Young, owner of Washington Oaks and the chairman of GE in the 1930. Rumor has it that the Kennedy family embellished the water way with massive boulders for their good friends, The Mellons, in order to stop the erosion happening there. To this day, properties in this area can flood or completely lose their water, while the Mellon property, now Historic Watermelon, stands high and dry. A fortress well preserved with the past help of great friends.
Since then, the home has had several owners, each family making their own, never to be forgotten, cherished memories that will be passed down generation to generation. Remnants of days and years gone by of magical moments they were lucky enough to have experienced. Fast forward to today.
Today this property, privately owned and aptly named Historic Watermelon for the street it rests on, Water, which it is massively surrounded by and historic for the fantastic stories this home has to tell. Don’t you wish the walls could speak!
Intracoastal, beaches, bays, and tidal pools, all there as if they were created just for you. So private that you feel that you are on a remote idyllic island where you can spend day after day
without a care in the world or a timetable to keep.
The Historic Watermelon is a luxurious and newly renovated and restored home, now available for vacation rentals. Perfect for family and group vacations.
