"It is history you don't simply look at. It is history you experience." Keeper Catherine Larsen wrote that line about The Tempest, the new immersive room inside the Gilbert's Bar House of Refuge, in her fall Keeper's Report for the Historical Society of Martin County. The building sits at 301 SE MacArthur Blvd., on the same road that continues past Bathtub Beach to Sailfish Point. For most of 2025 and early 2026 it sat behind construction work. It is open again in its 150th year, and its evening and afternoon programs are being run for 35 guests at a time.
That cap shapes the whole season. The museum's busiest programs now sell out ahead of time, they leave from the Elliott Museum by shuttle, and the closest neighbors book their seats the same way everyone else does.
Eleven Months, One Split Vote
The House closed to visitors on June 1 so preservation work could be done safely. The Historical Society first estimated six to eight months. It took about 11.
The money came from Martin County, which owns the building. On April 22, 2025, the Board of County Commissioners voted 3–2 to award a $1,792,011 restoration contract to The Tradesmen Group after testimony from the Historical Society and site volunteers. Earlier, county staff had pointed to a $231,000 roofing grant secured in 2023, with historically accurate materials required, according to Hometown News.
The scale makes sense once you see what the building needed. Larsen told WPTV that the roof, flooring and windows had all deteriorated, to the point that the House was "almost considered to be in historic ruin." A March 2026 CBS12 report lists a new roof, restored windows and doors, a renewed main deck and broader structural work. The Historical Society's own updates add detail:
- The historic structural pillars were reinforced with cement for long-term stability.
- Nearly 90 percent of the original porch system was removed for restoration, and the remaining section above the Exhibit Hall was sealed so no water could get in from above.
- The interior was sanded down for a fresh paint finish true to the period.
The Historical Society puts the official reopening at May 23, 2026. By the fall Keeper's Report, more than 3,500 guests had come through the doors. The National Register nomination dates the building to 1876. The Historical Society describes it as the last of the original ten Houses of Refuge on Florida's Atlantic coast.
What the Rooms Hold Now
The restoration also gave the museum new exhibit space, and that space is laid out to be experienced in small groups.
The Tempest sits on the lower level. It turns Ralph Papa's mural Of Storm and Splendor into an immersive room, using light, sound and atmosphere to evoke a storm at sea and the shipwrecks that shaped this coastline. Papa donated the mural, which the Historical Society describes as 50 feet long by 6 feet high and created specifically for the House.
While We Kept Watch follows the world and local events that unfolded beyond these walls while keepers stood watch on the shoreline.
The Overlook Gallery is a new, light-filled upper-level space with coastal views, set aside for artists and ideas.
Lightships is a pop-up exhibit in the Quarters about the vessels anchored as floating lighthouses where no lighthouse could be built. The first U.S. lightship went out off Virginia in 1820, and the fleet eventually grew to 56 vessels.
The Historical Society also lists new exhibits on local history and sea turtle conservation, and a refreshed Boathouse Gift Shop with maritime history books and gifts.
A Season Sized for 35
The Oceanside Lecture Series is where the restored building turns into a calendar. The House is an intimate room, and the programs are capped to fit it. The first big fall event showed what that means in practice. Beyond the Veil, an October 24 evening with Patrick and Patricia Mesmer, local historians and co-authors of Ghosts of the Treasure Coast, was sold out before the date arrived.
Here are the dates now posted through early 2027, in order:
- Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1:30–2:30 p.m. "Welcome Back." Larsen walks through the restoration using material from Chronicles of a Restoration: the details, the challenges and the discoveries. $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. Limited to 35.
- Monday, Dec. 7, 1:30–3 p.m. "Saved by the Soroptimists," with Marie Kennedy. Limited to 35.
- Monday, Jan. 11, 2027, 1:30–3 p.m. "The Roaring '20s and the Real McCoy," with Al Simbritz.
- Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2027, 5:30–7:30 p.m. "Turning the Tides," an evening panel on the health of local waters. The panelists are Capt. Mike Holliday of Captains For Clean Water; Mark D. Perry, executive director and CEO of the Florida Oceanographic Society; Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, former mayor of Sewall's Point and former South Florida Water Management District Governing Board member; and Rufus Wakeman, sport fisherman, guide and 10-time world-record holder. Beverages and light bites are included. $40 for members, $50 for nonmembers. Limited to 35.
- Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2027, 1:30–3 p.m. "Scalawag, Marauder, Pirate: The Don Pedro Gilbert Story," with Rob Urbanovich, about the namesake of Gilbert's Bar.
Getting there works differently than a daytime visit. The lecture listings include shuttle service from the Elliott Museum to the House. For Turning the Tides, the Historical Society asks guests to arrive at the Elliott Museum up to an hour before start time, since shuttle seats are limited. So even if you live a short drive south on MacArthur Boulevard, a lecture night starts at the Elliott Museum.
Larsen plans to film the January panel so the conversation can be shared beyond the 35 people in the room. For anyone who wants to ask a question in person, the seat count is still the deciding number.
The Elliott Museum as the Season's Hub
The House and the Elliott Museum are sister museums under the Historical Society, and one membership covers both. That shared membership matters more this season because the Elliott Museum is both the shuttle stop and a venue with its own winter dates:
- Wednesday, Dec. 2, 6–7:30 p.m. "The Legacy of A Land Remembered," an evening with Rick Smith. $25.
- Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2 p.m. Martin County Coastal Program Manager Jessica Garland on beach nourishment, inlet dredging, living shorelines and artificial reef management. $5 for members, $18 for nonmembers. For residents near Bathtub Beach, where sand and dredging come up every year, this may be the most relevant hour of the winter.
Dinner is also tied to the museum campus. Philly Down South Bar and Restaurant updated its outdoor tiki bar menu on Oct. 1, and its second-floor dinner restaurant inside the Elliott Museum is scheduled to reopen in January 2027, TCPalm reported. The restaurant's own site warns that hours may be limited from August through October, so it's worth checking before a late-October visit. If the dinner room opens on schedule, the January lectures, including the Jan. 20 panel, will be the first ones where a guest can pair the shuttle with dinner upstairs.
Stuart Beach's fire season starts this Sunday, Nov. 1. Martin County allows fires in the designated fire rings at 889 NE Ocean Boulevard from 5 to 11 p.m., Nov. 1 through Feb. 28, with a county permit.
The Daytime Visit Needs No Reservation
Outside the lecture series, the House works like any museum. The Historical Society lists admission at $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 65 and older, and $8 for ages 6 to 12. Children five and under get in free, as do veterans and active-duty U.S. military with ID. Posted hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. Visitors park at the House itself. A weekday walk through The Tempest and the Overlook Gallery is the easy way to see the restoration. A seat at one of the five 35-person talks is the part to book ahead.
At The Stracuzzi Team, we're glad to see a 150-year-old landmark on MacArthur Boulevard open and full of visitors again. If you're weighing a move to this end of Hutchinson Island, or thinking about what your Sailfish Point home is worth this season, we'd be glad to talk it through with you. Schedule a consultation whenever you're ready.
