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Published: October 15 2012

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. – The Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment (A&E) District is pleased to announce that Bonnet House Museum & Gardens has joined its consortium of cultural partners. Riverwalk A&E District, along with its partners Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Florida Grand Opera, Fort Lauderdale History Center, Historic Stranahan House Museum and Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, has the express mission of promoting cultural tourism in South Florida.

Bonnet House is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway, just south of Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. The historic 1920 plantation-style waterfront home is situated on 35 acres of natural preserve with five native habitats, including a coastal beach, primary and secondary dune, maritime forest, freshwater slough and a mangrove swamp, all in or near their pristine state. Nature trails surround a fresh water lagoon and mangrove swamp that is home to frogs, turtles, fish, butterflies, manatees, cranes, foxes, swans and a troop of squirrel monkeys.

The Main Residence was designed as a Caribbean-style plantation by artist, designer and self-taught architect Frederic Clay Bartlett, who lived there with his wife, Helen Birch Bartlett, a published composer and poet. After Helen died of cancer, Frederic married Evelyn Fortune Lilly, also an artist. The couple spent the next two decades painting and refurbishing the residence and grounds.

The mission of Bonnet House, Inc. is to preserve, interpret and share the unique and eclectic historical legacy – artistic, architectural and environmental – of the Bartlett and Birch families, inspiring in diverse audiences an appreciation for creative expression, historic preservation and natural conversation, while enhancing the educational, cultural and economic growth of the community.

Bonnet House is owned by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, and is a designated Fort Lauderdale Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s one of only three house museums in the state of Florida to be accredited by the American Association of Museums, and is the only home and studio of two American artists with the original furnishings and artwork that is open to the public.

People of all ages, including school children, come to Bonnet House to attend classes on history, art, ecology, horticulture, music and historic preservation. Educational programs are offered throughout the year and are designed to encourage life-long learning.

Over 4,500 children annually attend education programs at Bonnet House. School programs designed for elementary, middle and high school students and teachers include:
•    Birch Bonnet Barrier Island Beat About
•    An Eco Here and An Eco There
•    An Old South Florida Portrait
•    Images and Impressions of Bonnet House
•    African Americans Remember

Adult education programs (offered October through May) include:
•    Bonnet House Lecture Series
•    Young Artist Music Series
•    Bonnet House Fine Artists
•    Birding Workshop Series
•    Art Workshop Series
•    Impressions: A Juried Art Exhibit
•    Orchid, Garden & Gourmet Food Festival

Bonnet House is home to a wide collection of the Bartletts’ artwork totaling 629 paintings, the family’s original furnishings and ephemera, and items used by staff in caring for the extensive estate. The 15 historic structures on the property, designed by Frederic Bartlett between 1920 and 1938, include the Boat House, Main Residence with Studio Tower and Courtyard, a medieval-style Aviary, Caretaker’s Cottage, Fowl Pen,  a barn whimsically known as Rosie’s Palace, two orchid greenhouses, Staff Quarters, Shell Museum with Orchid Display House and Bamboo Bar, woodworking shed with garages, baroque-style fountain, Island Theater, a Seminole-style Chickee Bridge, and a medieval-style pavilion.  The house’s design is considered vernacular in that local materials were used in construction and inspired the design, and indeed much of the artwork in the collection was also created by the Bartletts during their winters here in Florida.

Bonnet House can be rented for weddings, corporate receptions or dinners. It has been rented by film production companies and fashion photographers, and featured in nationally distributed publications and programming.

The museum is open year-round. Now through Nov. 1, 2012, its opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. –4 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. –4 p.m. Starting Nov. 1, 2012, its new extended hours will be Tuesday through Sunday 9 a.m.–4 p.m. It is closed Mondays, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Over 70,000 visitors came to Bonnet House in fiscal year 2011-2012. Guided tours are given hourly by trained volunteers on the half hour and are one and a half hours long. Volunteers can give tours in Spanish, French and German with advance notice. Admission prices are adults $20, seniors ages 60 and over $18, children ages 6-12 $16, children under age 6 and Bonnet House members are free, gardens only tour $10. Group tours are also available at a discounted price.

All areas of Bonnet House that are open to the public are fully accessible and barrier-free. A Touching Tour is offered for the visually challenged. Free education programs are offered to children with severe disabilities.

“Bonnet House allows visitors to experience what Fort Lauderdale must have been like 100 years ago,” said Riverwalk A&E District Project Manager Carmen Ackerman. “With its beautiful setting and delightful and whimsical art and architecture, it provides a respite from the 21st century.”

Bonnet House is located at 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304. For more information, visit www.bonnethouse.org, or call (954) 563-5393.

About Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District
The Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District is a unique partnership of arts and entertainment organizations located along the New River in Downtown Fort Lauderdale with the express mission of promoting cultural tourism in South Florida. Presenting over 1000 individual events each year, the District attracts well over 1 million visitors annually. Partners of the Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment Consortium include Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Florida Grand Opera, Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, the Historic Stranahan House Museum and Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. It is supported by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. For more information about Riverwalk A&E District and its partners, visit www.riverwalkae.com.