When the Wesley House needed a new roof, where did the money come from?
It came from the Friends of Eden Gardens State Park, a volunteer citizen support group that spent several years saving for one round of repairs. In a post dated July 17, the group reported the roof finished, along with two other projects, and a fourth halfway done. The Friends credit the money to the same sources they always rely on: weddings held under the oaks after the park closes, camellias sold at the February festival, memberships, and the Fig Leaf gift shop. Now Hurricane Isaias has closed the park. Its winter season runs on that same cycle, so the camellias and candlelight ahead are what visitors enjoy and also how the next round of repairs gets paid for.
A Roof Paid For in Wedding Fees
The Friends had four projects scheduled for July and announced them in a post shared on SoWal.
- A new roof on the Wesley House, the 1895 home built for William Henry Wesley's timber family.
- Repair of a cracked, leaking fountain. Crews drained it completely and cleared out decades of debris. The 23 koi living in it were moved to new homes, and the pond will now be chlorinated.
- New sod around the wedding oak, where the grass had worn thin along the usual ceremony aisle.
- A facelift for the pavilion kitchen and bathrooms, which was halfway done when the group posted and was expected to finish by the end of July.
The group summed up the effort plainly:
"It took us several years to save up the money to accomplish all of this, but it is well worth it!"
The Friends' 2026 report to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection explains how a timeline like that happens. In that filing, the roof was still a goal for the next three years, and the Friends planned to cover half the cost of replacing it. The same list included the reflection-pond crack, the butterfly-garden fountain and the pavilion kitchen. The report calls after-hours weddings the group's "signature and primary" source of revenue, with more than 35 held on park grounds. That money pays for lawn seeding, irrigation upkeep, spraying more than 200 camellia bushes, and repairing and repainting the Wesley House. By the time of the July 17 post, most of the work that filing describes as a three-year plan was already finished.
Then Isaias
The National Hurricane Center reported that Isaias made landfall near Destin at 8:30 p.m. CDT on Oct. 9, with sustained winds of 105 mph. Eden Gardens was already on the list of state parks that WJHG reported as closed ahead of the storm on Oct. 7. At its Oct. 13 meeting, Walton County put preliminary debris-removal costs at about $4.5 million, with assessments still underway.
The official status of Eden Gardens has moved quickly and hasn't always been consistent. The park's main page posted a closure notice dated Oct. 16, while its Hours & Fees page gives Oct. 15. The statewide Storm Updates list dated Oct. 17 named only Topsail Hill Preserve and Blackwater Heritage State Trail as fully closed and did not mention Eden Gardens at all. That list is the page to check before driving up CR 395.
The forest around the park is on a separate schedule. The Florida Forest Service closed all campgrounds and recreation areas in Point Washington State Forest effective Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. It says they will reopen "as soon as possible pending damage assessments and repairs."
The storm also landed in the middle of the Friends' October Film Series. Spooky classics play on an outdoor screen on the lawn by the pavilion, free with the $4 per-vehicle park admission. Frogs is listed for Thursday, Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m. Whether it runs depends on the park being open, and the Friends' events page points to its Facebook page for the latest news.
The Season That Refills the Account
This is where the cycle starts over. The Friends list these events for the coming winter:
| When | What | Why it matters to the park |
|---|---|---|
| Late November onward | Camellias begin blooming across the grounds | The bloom draws winter visitors, each paying park admission |
| Dec. 5, 5 to 8 p.m. | Christmas Luminaries | The Friends' largest gathering of the year |
| February | Camellia Festival | Camellia sales and the festival together raised about $11,000 in 2025 |
| Late February to early April | Azaleas open, timing set by the weather | The garden's peak color closes out the cool season |
The camellia collection was planned so the season doesn't arrive all at once. The park has more than 370 camellias, chosen and placed to bloom from November through April. The sasanquas open first, and the japonicas take over as the sasanquas fade. A walk in early December and a walk in late January will show different plants in flower.
The Luminaries show how much one evening can matter. On Dec. 5, the paths will be lined with luminaries after sunset. Every room of the Wesley House will be decorated for Christmas, with live music, cookies and hot drinks from the Friends at the pavilion. The Friends' report calls the December candlelight event "usually our largest event." In 2025, rain pushed it to the backup date, and about 500 people came instead of the usual 1,200. One wet night cut attendance at the group's biggest event of the year by more than half.
February's festival has the clearest numbers. The 2025 Camellia Festival brought in more than 1,000 visitors, featured 11 other nonprofits running booths on gardening, wildlife, local ecosystems and history, and raised about $11,000 for the park. The 2026 festival was held Feb. 6. The 2027 date will appear on the Friends' events page once it's set.
The Road In Is Being Rebuilt Too
Anyone heading to Eden Gardens this winter will drive through another long-term project. Walton County's CR 395 North Road Reconstruction and Multi-Use Path covers about 7,200 feet of CR 395, from US 98 to the bay. The work includes rebuilding and resurfacing the road, adding a 10-foot asphalt multi-use path, building timber retaining walls where needed, replacing drainage structures, and installing ADA-compliant crosswalks.
On Nov. 24, 2025, the Board of County Commissioners voted 5–0 to award the contract to Roberts & Roberts, Inc. for $3,889,900.80. The county engineering department's quarterly report for April through June 2026 listed the project as under construction. The county's flyer estimates completion in spring 2027 and warns of intermittent shoulder and lane closures for the length of the project. That puts this year's camellia season, and probably next spring's azaleas, inside the work zone. The Walton County Engineering Department takes project questions at 850-892-8108.
Where the Summer's Work Shows Up on a Winter Walk
Once the gates are open, a loop around the grounds passes almost every project the Friends paid for. Guided tours of the Wesley House, under its new roof, run every hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday through Monday, for a small fee. The house was restored in antebellum style after Lois Genevieve Maxon bought the estate in 1963 and planned the gardens. Its windows look out over the reflecting pool and the moss-draped oaks.
The fountain is clear again, and the lawn by the wedding oak is green. Luminaries guests will gather for cookies and hot drinks at the pavilion, where the Friends expected the kitchen and bathroom facelift to wrap up by the end of July. Past the formal gardens, about a mile of nature trails starts at the north end of the pavilion picnic area. A Living Shoreline trail winds through the ornamental beds, and a dock on Tucker Bayou looks toward the southeast corner of Choctawhatchee Bay. Visitors who bring their own canoe or kayak can use the launch in the day-use area.
Each of those stops was paid for by the visitors, couples and camellia buyers who came before. The Friends' membership page is the most direct way to help pay for the next set of repairs.
At VeraCore, our Point Washington work on Mitchell Avenue and Ricker Avenue sits on the same stretch of Choctawhatchee Bay as Eden Gardens. If you'd like to talk about what it means to build carefully alongside a place this well cared for, we'd be glad to hear from you. Work With VeraCore.
