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Ma Barker House


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Heard recently from my pal, Mario, that they are going to move the Ma Barker house, in Florida, across the street and turn it into a museum. The owner of the house is the great Grandson of the original owner that unknowingly rented to the Barkers.

The land has been sold for development. The house and original furniture (still in it) is being donated to Marion County who will be in charge of the Barker Museum. ( close to Disney ) .

I was contacted to see if I knew how to appraise the contents, which I really don't. Bullet holes and all . ( patched)

I think Rob lives in that area, maybe be able to dig up more information...

 

Interesting-

 

 

OCM

Edited by OCM
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Last summer a local metal detecting club spent the day detecting around the house and yard. Also, they went inside to video the interior. Fairly nice job showing what it's like on the inside. They found numerous 45 ACP spent cartridges and many 38 cal casings around the house. It's great they are preserving the house. The video of the finds are on YouTube.
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Saw that last week, they showed where they possibly stood and were firing at the house, by the number of casings.

Larry Wack had a very good look at the house on his web page. It was from a real estate brochure I think on the house when they were trying to sell it- Some nice original photos of the inside and as I remember Ma & Fred after the battle. Lot of then & now stuff -

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I think the most famous part of the whole house was the concrete porch where the Feds showed off all the the Barker guns. I hope they save that with the house.
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You might contact them, as a legit historian, trade a chair or something for advice on the subject. I'd back ya up- Price of this stuff is way subjective.

 

Keep us posted...

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They should of kept the casings for display in the new museum, be a nice little touch. Blow up the FBI site- diagram ( see Larry Wack's site) and adhere the casing to the spots found as a cool wall display. Good visual.

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You might contact them, as a legit historian, trade a chair or something for advice on the subject. I'd back ya up- Price of this stuff is way subjective.

 

Keep us posted...

 

On one of my visits, the owner (who lives next door) came out when he saw me walking around the house, and asked me to not trespass, in no uncertain (but polite) terms. I left.

 

He doesn't strike me as the kind who particularly cares for historians, lol.

 

Rob

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Rob-

I've got the contact information, from the owner, asking for some help on the value etc. of the original belongings. Also could led to a position as volunteer of the up coming museum. Like the DC Museum, I was on the " Board of Experts" on the 30s outlaw stuff. They fire off historical questions , had a couple school classes contact me also on a project, things like -

If you make contact, probably start out with an inside view of all the belongings then go from there.

Since you have family there and it's an hour away, might be a fun project to mess with.

 

PM me if interested-

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I appreciate your confidence in my abilities and the encouragement, Sandy, but to be perfectly honest, I don't have time in my life to spare for something like this at this stage, as fun as it sounds. :)

 

Between the demands of the wife, the job, the kids, the bills, the current WW2 museum I work at currently, et.al, I don't have any spare time to devote to something like this, as much as I would love to.

 

Give me a few years to get squared away...and retire, lol...and I'll be looking for something like this to spend my spare time on. ;)

 

Rob

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10-4 . At least when you're back in the area you can follow the building of the new museum. Maybe hint to the curator on some correctness.

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Historical correctness can be extremely frustrating. There's not enough room here to tell my stories on this subject. Be careful, don't bite your tongue off...

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  • 1 month later...

The new Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, which I'm on the Board of Experts, ( their name ) sent an article about the moving of the Barker House, across Lake Wier to it's new location. Lots of interesting photos.

I don't know how to add a link, but the story and all is in the Ocala StarBanner newspaper. Ocala.com.

Also if interested in Alcatraz East Museum, you can Google it lots of construction photos and info to go over. Pigeon Forge, TN.

 

OCM

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Thanks Rob-

Amazing what they can do. Keep us posted on the progress as much as you can. Somehow it just doesn't seem right, like moving the Jesse James house or the Dillinger farm.

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Somehow it just doesn't seem right, like moving the Jesse James house or the Dillinger farm.

Yeah, I agree, Sandy; but, I guess it's better than the alternative of tearing it down, and losing a piece of Outlaw history forever.

 

Rob

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