The Hawthorne Historical Museum and Cultural Center holds artifacts and paintings from Hawthorne’s past. Included are a series of paintings by Francis Moore, an artist known locally as “Hawthorne’s Grandpa Moses”, and a large quilt that incorporates images of 20 historic homes in Hawthorne.
Hawthorne started as a railroad town that grew around the 1879 junction of the Florida Southern and Peninsula lines. The Hawthorne Historical Museum and Cultural Center stands near the site of the original train depot. The building was formerly one of the town’s African-American churches, originally built in 1907. The painstaking restoration process, completed almost entirely by volunteers, saved the old brick piers and panes of red and yellow colored glass.
