1. The building that is home to the Mandarin Community Club was rebuilt in 1872, for use as the Mandarin School, after a fire destroyed an earlier Freedman’s Bureau building on the site. Harriet Beecher Stowe, famed author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, spearheaded the building project. Black and white children were educated at the school. Mrs. Stowe, a 15 year winter resident of Mandarin, lived on river property across from the school. The school was also used as a site for community meetings and worship services.

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3. Harriett Beecher Stowe and her husband, Professor Calvin E. Stowe helped organize the Church of our Savior in 1880. Unfortunately, the original Episcopal Church structure on the site was destroyed by Hurricane Dora in 1964.

4. Built in 1911, the Mandarin Post Office & Walter Jones General Store served as the heart of the community until it closed in 1964. It sold everything from canned goods from South America, to meat, animal feed, fish, cold soda and penny candy. The building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was restored by a grant from the Florida Department of State Division of Historical Resources.

5. This house was completed for John C. Brown in 1880. Brown served as Mandarin’s postmaster from 1875 to 1879.

6. Early Mandarin builder William Monson constructed this house in 1887 for his brother-in-law J.H. Jacks. Jacks was a late 19th century farmer who introduced celery to Mandarin’s agricultural market.

7. This residence was completed in 1876 for Dr. Henry A Coleman who relocated to Florida from South Carolina.

8. Mandarin Cemetery dates back to 1836.

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  1. Situated around the intersection of Flynn Road and Orange Picker Roads, East Mandarin was once the epicenter of early 20th century Mandarin’s African-American population. While significant development has taken place in recent years, several long time families and descendants of Mandarin’s freedman community still remain in the neighborhood.

11. This sanctuary was once occupied by the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Now known as Philip R. Cousin AME, the congregation was organized by freedmen in 1886.

Philip R. Cousin African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in the late 1800’s. A parcel of land consisting of 3.25 acres was purchased November 13, 1886, for eighty-five dollars in the name of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Mandarin, under the auspices of the General Church. W. A. Summerall, H. T. Denson, David Hartley and John Cody served as trustees during the purchase. The deeds were recorded on March 21, 1887. Shortly thereafter, a wooden church was built for worship services and the congregation adopted the name of Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church of Mandarin.

The Reverend S. T. Tice was appointed as pastor and served through the Annual Conference of 1890. During the following years, other pastors were appointed and served faithfully as the church moved forward. The church has been located at the present site since the land was purchased in 1886.

Until October of 1990, the church was officially known as Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church. At the Annual Conference, October 1990, Mt. Pleasant African Methodist Episcopal Church of Fruit Cove, Florida, merged with Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church. Under the leadership of then Presiding Bishop Philip R. Cousin, two congregations were merged to form a more excellent body of God’s Church. Reverend Eugene E. Moseley, Jr. was appointed as pastor. It was decided by the members of the merged church and approved by the Annual Conference that a new name should be given to the church. By approval of the local church and Annual Conference, the church was named, Philip R. Cousin African Methodist Episcopal Church.

At the 127 session of the East Florida Annual Conference, October 2002, a recommendation was made that New Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Bayard, Florida, merge with Philip R. Cousin African Methodist Episcopal Church. Under the leadership of Presiding Bishop John Hurst Adams and with the approval of the Conference, the merger was approved.

Source: https://www.philiprcousiname.com/Church-History.html

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