History

Frank Elmore Saxon, Courtesy State Archives of Florida, Alvan S. Harper Photographer

The Saxon Scarborough House begun in 1877 by Frank Elmore Saxon on 32 acres of land, that his wife Talula Vernice Hope received from her father William Hope, who was the first settler in Hernando County. It is an 11 room house which was added onto as their family grew to seven sons: Rhodes, Jessee, Elmore, Terry, Wadsworth, Randolph and Eston. Frank (1841-1922) was a Confederate Hero wounded five times and captured twice. The worst wound was to his instep and left him with a permanent limp. He was a member of the Hernando County “Wild Cats”, a unit of the Florida 3rd Regiment whose motto was “We Yeild But in Death.” His first wound was in a battle at Honeymoon near Jacksonville Florida.

His major wound was received in the Battle of Terryville where he was left for dead but recovered in a Union Hospital. He secretly at the wars surrender carried his units’ battle flag back to Brooksville walking the 787 miles from the hospital to Brooksville. He later donated the flag to the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond Virginia where it is conserved and on display. On Christmas Day 1866, he married Marena May, she was the richest widow in Brooksville.

They lived in her house the present May-Stringer Museum and had two children, Franklin and Jessie May who is the ghost there, both children dying in their infancy. Sadly Marena also died in the house in 1869. Mr. Saxon was a prominent man in Hernando County politics, serving in the Florida Legislature, County Tax Assessor, Postmaster , Town Marshall of Brooksville and Clerk of Court in 1887, 1888 and from 1893-1909. He was interested in schools for Brooksville. His home was a school for a while and he donated the property for a three room schoolhouse that held all students there in grades one through twelve. Mr. Saxon passed away February 25, 1922 and is buried in the Brooksville cemetery.

House before renovation

House as it stands September 2013 post renovation