Palm Cottage & Naples Historical Society

About Palm Cottage & Naples Historical Society

By the ULTIMATE Naples Editorial Team

Built of shell-and-lime tabby in 1895, Palm Cottage is the oldest house in Naples and a rare survivor of the town’s first years. Here is the story behind it.

The publisher’s cottage

Naples was the creation of two men from Kentucky, John Stuart Williams and Walter N. Haldeman, the owner of the Louisville Courier-Journal, who founded the town in 1886. Haldeman built this cottage in 1895, a block from the pier, and several other Louisville families had homes nearby in those early winters.

The house is known by several names, including the Henry Watterson Cottage after Haldeman’s famous editor, the Cement Cottage, and later the Parmer Home and Hamilton House. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

It was built as the winter cottage of Walter N. Haldeman, the Louisville publisher who co-founded Naples.

Tabby walls

What makes it special is its construction. Palm Cottage is a rare example of tabby mortar, a building material made by burning shells to make lime and mixing it with sand and shell. It is the oldest surviving house in Naples, and it stands within the Naples Historic District, a quarter of old cottages between the Gulf and Third Street South.

Inside and out

The Naples Historical Society owns the house and runs it as a museum, furnished to reflect the early 1900s. Docents lead tours through the rooms, and the Norris Gardens behind the cottage are laid out in themed areas. The society also leads walking tours of the historic district and opens the house for Christmas tours in December.

Our advice: book a guided tour, then walk the quiet streets of the historic district towards the pier, looking for the old frame cottages among the new houses.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Palm Cottage & Naples Historical Society before you go.