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Sweet Memories Will Remain

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By LAURA FRAZIER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 20, 2007

BRANDON - Real estate broker Richard Bennett has participated in countless real estate closings during the past 26 years. His most memorable deal to date, though, took place in August when he signed his name on the dotted line.

Two months ago, Bennett, owner of Bennett Properties Realty, purchased a 102-year-old house at 608 N. Parsons Ave., the longtime locale of Sweet Memories Antiques and Collectibles. A 1909 deed transfer included with his closing documents shows the house sold at the time for $150. Bennett said today's market value of the home and its three-quarter-acre property is $500,000. He believes the seller identified on the deed, Amanda Brandon, was a member of the homesteading family for which the community was named.

A succession of owners used the Victorian-style house as an antique shop for more than four decades, and Bennett plans to continue the tradition. He moved his real estate office to the second story of the 4,000-square-foot home. He will continue to run the antique shop on the first floor, where 15 independent dealers offer antiques and collectibles.

A grand reopening will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Objects of all shapes and sizes fill every corner of the shop. Items hundreds of years old, as well as more modern antiques, hang on the walls and from the ceiling. Glass treasures perched on windowsill shelves are a colorful backdrop for displays of furniture, vintage clothing and linens, home decor, jewelry and, Bennett's personal favorite, primitive pottery.

His interest in pottery was spurred by a visit long ago to his great aunt's house in West Virginia. She gave his family some of her personal belongings to take home, and Bennett, then 14, immediately laid claim to a giant whiskey jug, much to his parents' dismay.

'When I left home years later, they made me take it with me because they didn't want it in the house. I still have it, with its original corncob stopper,' he said.

The old jug has plenty of company in Bennett's home in Dover, where he displays more than 200 stoneware jugs, pots and dishes.

Like the pottery he collects, Bennett is convinced the house he bought is not just historical, but a treasure. He's still doing research on the history of the Parsons Avenue house and others built in the same time period, but he believes most houses built in Hillsborough County before the 1920s are long gone, destroyed by fire, storms or termites. He thinks his house and Stowers Funeral Home, at 401 W. Brandon Blvd., might be the only two - or two of just a handful - of pre-1920s homes standing in the county.

Bennett said termite-resistant heart pine floor beams and roof trusses helped the house stand the test of time, along with reasonable maintenance by past owners. He wants to put a new shine on the Victorian beauty and said he has spent plenty of money and time in the past two months renovating, repairing and improving the home and grounds.

'This is truly one of the most historic properties in Brandon and possibly the entire county,' Bennett said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Grand re-opening sale, free treats and refreshments

WHERE: Sweet Memories Antiques and Collectibles, 608 N. Parsons Ave., Brandon

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today

Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523 or lfrazier@tampatrib.com.

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