The H. S. Williams House, known as Lawndale, is a historic U.S. home that was located at 1219 Rockledge Drive,

Rockledge, Florida Rockledge is the oldest city in Brevard County, Florida. The city's population was 24,926 at the 2010 United States Census, and is part of the Palm Bay−Melbourne− Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Rockledge was officially ...

. Hiram Smith Williams built the house in 1880 after moving to the area in 1874 from Alabama. A native of New Jersey, Williams had lived and traveled in the Midwest but settled in 1859 in

Livingston, Alabama Livingston is a city in and the county seat of Sumter County, Alabama, United States and the home of the University of West Alabama. By an act of the state legislature, it was incorporated on January 10, 1835. At the 2010 census the population w ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, Williams enlisted in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

and served with the 40th Alabama Volunteer Regiment. During his service, he penned a journal that historians have praised for its clarity of its writing and keen observations about the daily life of a soldier. Once settled in Florida, Williams grew citrus, founded the Brevard Telephone Company, and served as a

Florida State Senator The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopte ...

.Berman, Dave. "Group hopes to turn house into museum", ''

Florida Today ''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at USA Today. I ...

'', ''Space Coast section'', (Melbourne, Florida: Florida Today, 1 October 2012), pages B1 & B3. The second floor of the home, situated above the kitchen was used as a schoolroom for children, and was one of the first schools in the county.

Brevard County Brevard County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in T ...

purchased the home in 1989 and restored it. In 2012, the Preservation and Education Trust from Rockledge raised money to convert the historic home house into a museum, which opened to the public for guided tours in December 2020. The house is located in the

Rockledge Drive Residential District The Rockledge Drive Residential District is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on August 21, 1992) located in Rockledge, Florida Rockledge is the oldest city in Brevard County, Florida. The city's population was 24,926 at the 2010 U ...

, in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

."Rockledge Drive Residential District"
''National Register of Historic Places Registration Form'', NPS Form 10-900, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1992. Note: see section on the H. S. Williams House on page 8.

Notes

Houses in Brevard County, Florida {{Florida-struct-stub