Submitted by
Brian Wiebler
Tall Timbers
The National Park Service added the 9,125-acre Livingston Place property in Greenville, Fla., to the National Register of Historic Places, making it one of the largest designated sites in the state. National Register designation recognizes this distinct cultural landscape along with its architectural significance, while also helping protect and preserve it for the future.
Livingston Place — known as Dixie Plantation from 1926 to 2020 — is owned by Tall Timbers, a private non-profit research and land conservation organization founded in 1958. The Geraldine C.M. Livingston Foundation gifted the historic quail hunting property to Tall Timbers in 2013.
As current steward of the property, Tall Timbers has expanded wildlife research and land management improvements, in addition to completing a multi-phase restoration and rehabilitation project of the 1938 Livingston Place Main House — with financial support from community members and three Florida Department of State Special Category grants.
Master architect John Russell Pope designed the Main House, and it is the only one of his designs in Florida. Pope is known for designing several prominent Washington, D.C. buildings, including the Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery of Art.
“Restoring the Livingston Place Main House brings life back to this historic structure and allows Tall Timbers to utilize it for guests, science and conservation gatherings, and community events,” commented Dr. Bill Palmer, President and CEO of Tall Timbers. “We are excited about this first step as we evaluate a course of action based on usage and demand.”
The National Register designation is also very much about this distinct American landscape of large quail hunting preserves rich in natural and cultural resources, explained Kevin McGorty, Tall Timbers Land Conservancy Director and one of the co-authors of the nomination. “This district is one of the largest properties listed to the National Register from Florida, reflecting a distinct cultural landscape that was shaped by both the Livingston family and their sporting interests, and the African American tenant farmers who lived and labored on the land.”
The Livingston family left a rich legacy in making the property a nationally recognized field trial venue showcasing competition among some of the nation’s top bird dogs and their handlers. The prestigious Continental Field Trial has been hosted annually at the site since 1937 and is one of few remaining field trail events with wild bobwhite quail, thanks to science driven land management practices that include the use of prescribed fire.
The Livingstons’ implementation of land stewardship practices, as promoted in the Red Hills region by early conservationist Herbert L. Stoddard, improved not only the property’s wild quail populations but also conserved other wildlife and restored habitats, including longleaf pine forests.
Intertwined with conservation, Livingston Place is significant for its direct association with Black tenant farmers and sharecroppers and their important role in the Red Hills’ economic, recreational and environmental development. African Americans, freed from slave labor on large-scale agricultural plantations, adopted small-scale patch farming and cultural burning that favored quail populations and played a pivotal part in the success of hunting preserves in the Red Hills region after the Reconstruction era. Black employees at these properties also ensured smooth running of the preserve operation as skilled dog handlers, horse trainers, and house and grounds workers.
Three tenant farmer cabins, a commissary, two workers’ cottages, three cemeteries, and a dog cemetery remain as surviving features to tell the story of this working landscape. Tall Timbers is also developing an interpretive exhibit for the main house to share with visitors the history of the Livingston family and the role of African American farmers in shaping this revered American landscape known as the Red Hills.
The mission of Tall Timbers is to foster exemplary land stewardship through research, conservation and education. To learn more about its work, visit www.talltimbers.org.
The National Register of Historic Places is a list maintained by the National Park Service which includes historical or archaeological properties including buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts, that are considered worthy of preservation because of their local, statewide and/or national significance. For more information about the National Register of Historic Places program administered by the National Park Service, visit nps.gov/nr.