Travel deeper into Jacksonville, through its human stories.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens

• A widow collects for a museum

In this story, you’ll discover

Chapter 1

The Lumber Family on Riverside Avenue

Ninah was born in Indiana and met her husband, Arthur, at the University of Michigan. Arthur's father was a Michigan lumberman who moved to Jacksonville in the 1890s to run the family's timber company from here. In 1902 Arthur and Ninah built a Tudor-style house on Riverside Avenue. Arthur's parents lived next door, and his brother Waldo and his wife Clara later moved in close by, so three family houses stood side by side, each with a garden reaching toward the river. Seven years later, Ninah gave birth to a daughter, DeEtte. The baby lived seventeen days. Outside the house, Ninah kept busy. Back in 1901, before the house was built, a great fire had burned most of downtown, and she had helped organise relief. In the First World War she volunteered with the Red Cross, and for years she was president of the Children's Home Society, a charity for children. She also organised Jacksonville's first garden club, and at home her own garden kept growing.

A reflection for you

Ninah Cummer named the museum foundation after DeEtte, the daughter she had lost almost fifty years earlier. DeEtte had lived for seventeen days. Is there someone whose time in your life was brief, but who has stayed with you? How does remembering them show up in the choices you make now?

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens

• A widow collects for a museum

In this story, you’ll discover

Chapter 1

The Lumber Family on Riverside Avenue

Ninah was born in Indiana and met her husband, Arthur, at the University of Michigan. Arthur's father was a Michigan lumberman who moved to Jacksonville in the 1890s to run the family's timber company from here. In 1902 Arthur and Ninah built a Tudor-style house on Riverside Avenue. Arthur's parents lived next door, and his brother Waldo and his wife Clara later moved in close by, so three family houses stood side by side, each with a garden reaching toward the river. Seven years later, Ninah gave birth to a daughter, DeEtte. The baby lived seventeen days. Outside the house, Ninah kept busy. Back in 1901, before the house was built, a great fire had burned most of downtown, and she had helped organise relief. In the First World War she volunteered with the Red Cross, and for years she was president of the Children's Home Society, a charity for children. She also organised Jacksonville's first garden club, and at home her own garden kept growing.

A reflection for you

Ninah Cummer named the museum foundation after DeEtte, the daughter she had lost almost fifty years earlier. DeEtte had lived for seventeen days. Is there someone whose time in your life was brief, but who has stayed with you? How does remembering them show up in the choices you make now?

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens

• A widow collects for a museum

In this story, you’ll discover

Chapter 1

The Lumber Family on Riverside Avenue

Ninah was born in Indiana and met her husband, Arthur, at the University of Michigan. Arthur's father was a Michigan lumberman who moved to Jacksonville in the 1890s to run the family's timber company from here. In 1902 Arthur and Ninah built a Tudor-style house on Riverside Avenue. Arthur's parents lived next door, and his brother Waldo and his wife Clara later moved in close by, so three family houses stood side by side, each with a garden reaching toward the river. Seven years later, Ninah gave birth to a daughter, DeEtte. The baby lived seventeen days. Outside the house, Ninah kept busy. Back in 1901, before the house was built, a great fire had burned most of downtown, and she had helped organise relief. In the First World War she volunteered with the Red Cross, and for years she was president of the Children's Home Society, a charity for children. She also organised Jacksonville's first garden club, and at home her own garden kept growing.

A reflection for you

Ninah Cummer named the museum foundation after DeEtte, the daughter she had lost almost fifty years earlier. DeEtte had lived for seventeen days. Is there someone whose time in your life was brief, but who has stayed with you? How does remembering them show up in the choices you make now?