Goodwood Museum and Gardens Inc

Goodwood Museum & Gardens is a cultural, historical, and educational institution situated in the heart of Tallahassee.  The 16-acre museum property is an intact cultural landscape that includes 20 historic structures and heirloom gardens that reflect nearly two centuries of history in the region.  The property has witnessed, and today helps to tell the stories of, every era of modern Florida from the early 19th century to the present—the territorial period, statehood, secession and the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, the Country Estate Era, and Florida political life.  Goodwood was among the state’s earliest listings in the National Register of Historic Places.  Today, Goodwood is one of Tallahassee’s premier historic attractions and also serves as an important venue for a wide variety of public and private events. 

The historic Goodwood estate has long been recognized as one of Florida’s significant historical and cultural resources.  The property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, shortly after the initial passage of the National Historic Preservation Act that established the Register.  The last owner/occupant, Thomas Hood, understood the value of the property as a cultural asset for the community and bequeathed it to a private non-profit organization, Goodwood Museum & Gardens, Inc., upon his death in the late 1980s.  The covenants Hood placed upon the property required that it be restored to its 1920s appearance and shared with visitors as a museum. 

Today, Goodwood Museum & Gardens is one of the top ten destinations in Tallahassee according to Trip Advisor and the 2016 Official Visitors Guide published by Visit Tallahassee.  In 2015, Goodwood hosted tourists from 19 countries and 35 states.  In addition, the property is a popular venue for a wide variety of public and private events that bring more than 20,000 people to the site each year.  Last year, this included 56 weddings, more than 50 non-profit events, conferences and corporate training, theatrical and musical productions, and educational and interpretive programming.  Moreover, Goodwood’s spacious 16-acre heirloom gardens and grounds are free to the public, providing access to greenspace for residents of adjacent neighborhoods, as well as a peaceful sanctuary for the patients and staff at neighboring Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and Tallahassee Community College’s Ghadzvini Center for Health Care Education.  A key reason for Goodwood’s success as both a visitor destination and a community gathering spot is the property’s historic feel and unique sense of place.