In 1883, Walton and Louisa Whitehurst sold 80 acres of land in Curlew to James Hartley, who had recently moved from Danforth, Illinois, with his wife Frances and their son Thomas. The family later joined Curlew Methodist Church, founded in 1869. Thomas W. Hartley lived in the area until his death in 1955, built the house, tended an orange grove, and made wooden ladders for pruning and picking citrus. Ordained in 1890, he served as a roving preacher on a circuit from Tarpon Springs to Anona, and in 1893 he was elected Justice of the Peace for the 4th District of Hillsborough County, serving for 11 years. In 1899, he married Ida Stanton, and they had four children: Lucy, Clarine, Leonard, and Orion. Ida managed the household and sold guava jelly to supplement the family income. Work on the house began in 1914 and took five years to complete, using rusticated concrete blocks cast on site in a mail-order mold from Sears, Roebuck and Company, local lumber for floors and framing, and a cellar dug beneath the kitchen. The home also served as a resting place for travelers along the trail to Tampa, now Curlew Road. The house remained in the Hartley family until 1961 and stayed a private residence until 1996, when Pinellas County purchased it for the Belcher Road extension. Its history led to efforts to save it, designate it as a Pinellas County landmark, and establish it as a permanent home for area history. Leased to the Palm Harbor Historical Society, Incorporated, it opened as a museum in 1998. A 2016 Cultural Facilities grant from the Florida Department of State supported renovations for local history exhibits, and Historical Society volunteers maintain it as a repository for artifacts and documents from the unincorporated communities of northern Pinellas County, including Curlew, Crystal Beach, East Lake, Ozona, Palm Harbor, and Wall Springs, preserving the memory of small settlements that shaped Palm Harbor’s modern character.