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Actor brings Tarpon founder back to life

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: May 23, 2009

People visiting Safford House these days might imagine they have been transported back to the late 19th century. Bruce Miller, dressed in period costume and assuming the reserved demeanor of a Victorian era gentleman, converses with visitors as if he were the namesake of the historic residence, one of the city's founding fathers, Anson P.K. Safford.

Miller, an actor, is a font of information about Safford. He gained this knowledge from his exhaustive studies of Safford and his life and times, both here and his earlier days as a governor of the Arizona territory.

Upon entering through the gate to the grounds of Safford House, on Parkin Court off Grand Boulevard, visitors journey back to the 1880s, when Safford conducted his land deals at his mansion, which is in what has become known as the Florida vernacular style of architecture.

Miller easily relates so many quaint stories and personal facts about Safford and his family that one easily imagines him to be the reincarnated spirit of the former governor of the Arizona Territory.

Miller produces the illusion even though at 6 foot 2 he is a good deal taller than Safford, who at 5 foot 6 was dubbed the "Little Governor." In addition, judging from portraits of the town pioneer, Miller has less hair than Safford had.

Safford came to Tarpon Springs in 1883 and built a one-story house at the corner of Spring Boulevard and Grand Boulevard.

He brought with him his entire family: sister, Mary Jane Safford-Blake, Florida's first woman doctor; his third wife, Soledad Bonillas; two step-children; a small daughter and governess.

He later enlarged the house to include a second story, a wrap-around porch, an upper deck and observation tower. The house became a social gathering place in a town that at the time had only a few dozen residents.

In December 1891, Safford and Safford-Blake died a week apart. They are buried at Cycadia Cemetery. Soledad then sold the lot on which the house stood and in 1903 had it moved to its present site on Parkin Court. She remarried and lived there until her death in 1931.

While leading tours of the house, Miller, speaking as Safford, makes photographs that adorn walls come alive by offering stories about each image.

He offers tales of the gracious living the family experienced. He can also dish the dirt on the family bickering that went on after Anson's death.

Miller pauses by the desk that belonged to Safford when he served as Arizona territorial governor and a piano from the same era in which the family lived.

Another docent recalls the life of Safford-Blake, who began her medical career during the Civil War, as a nurse with the Union Army of the Tennessee, under the command of Ulysses S. Grant.

She graduated from the Medical College for Women in New York City after the war.

After Soledad died a series of owners allowed the house to fall into disrepair in the early to mid part of the 20th century. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and the city acquired it 1994.

Vandals had nearly gutted the house by the time the city bought it. The city completely restored the house to its former grandeur using state grant funds.

The city operates the house as one of its major tourist attraction, along with help from the Tarpon Springs Historical Society.

Tours of Safford House are from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. each Wednesday and Friday. Tours can be arranged by calling 727-937-1130.

Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.

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