When Mary McLeod Bethune arrived to Daytona she had only $1.50 to her name but she wanted to build a school for black students. She found a 22 acre former city dumped and started the Daytona Normal and Industrial School For Girls which merged with the Cookman Institute for Boys In Jacksonville.  She concentrated on girls because she felt they were hampered by the lack of educational opportunities.  Bethune in 1914 also started the McLeod's Negro Hospital which later became part of the Halifax District Hospital. Mary Bethune McLeod's house which she lived in all the way up until her death was the first Florida site commemorating the accomplishments of a black citizen to be placed on the National Register Of Historic Places. Near her house was the site of what use to be a Methodist Church which no longer stands today.

Mary Bethune got her name from a man she married named Albertus Bethune. He met her at the Kindell Institute in Sumpter SC while she was an instructor their. Mary Bethune was going to be a missionary in Africa after her graduation from the Moody Institute but she did not get a chance to pursue this. Her career bounced around alot as she was the instructor at the Haines Institute and also one at the Presbyterian Mission School.

When she rented a two story frame building it was a difficult task for her to establish the school here. She only had six pupils and one of them was her own son. They had no equipment, crates were used as desk, charcoal was used as pencils, and ink came from crushed elderberries.  She was a teacher, administrator, comptroller and even a custodian where later she was able to secure a staff. To expand the school Bethune and her pupils baked pies and made ice cream and would sell them to local construction groups. Bethune also organized classes for children of Turpentine workers. She served as president of her own college until her retirement in 1942. She remained trustee of the college till the end of her life. By 1955 her college had a faculty of a 100 and over 1000 students. By 1943 the college had graduated over 11,000 students.

Over the last 50 years the college keeps expanding and today the Bethune house still stands and is used as a museum with alot of its original belongings. Mary Bethune's gravesite is behind the house so students can sit by her grave and reflect.

I do feel that the house itself is haunted not so sure about the buildings surrounded it. But the house itself is very old and this is where it all started. Bethune was a strong minded woman it is only natural that this energy would carry over in the afterlife. Even as you approach this place their is a real gloomy feeling as if somebody is standing on the porch either watching you or looking at you from upstairs. Sure the house is a museum but it was also the home of this woman for 50 years. I mean 1000s of people have entered this home as it served as not only a home but a school till newer buildings could be built. I would not recommend going into the neighborhood at night their is alot of crime but it makes an interesting investigation I will say that much.

© By

Rick-AngelOfThyNight