Eden was built in 1895 by lumberman William Henry Wesley with elaborate Victorian trimming. In 1963, Lois Genevieve Maxon bought the estate, planned the gardens that enhance its natural setting, and restored the mansion in antebellum style. That restoration fulfilled a local legend that the original design was inspired by an antebellum plantation house where Wesley was given shelter on his way home from the War Between the States. Wesley’s lumber partner and father-in-law, Simeon Strickland, had an identical house nearby, of which a portion still stands. Traces of their mill, where lumber for the two houses was cut, may still be seen on the Eden grounds. In December 1968, Lois Genevieve Maxon gave Eden to the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in loving memory of her parents, Harry Russell Maxon, 1883-1960, and Lois Adelheide Gustava Margarethe von Purucker Maxon, 1885-1960.