The Gamble Place
/The City of Port Orange has changed drastically over the last 30 years. A sprawling middle-class suburb pushing ever further with development continuing westward beyond I-95. A line between the lush pine forest and farmland of Spruce Creek and Samsula pushed ever further to make room for subdivisions and town homes.
On the fringe of that new development is a place hidden from the common knowledge of newcomers and locals alike. A place steeped in history and folklore, where stories of witches and dwarves go hand in hand with mighty historical figures. Tales from great dreamers and ghost who roam the forest at midnight. A place protected by government oversight, obscurity, and ambiguity. Down a long dirt road to seemingly nowhere, there lies a quant and quiet collection of Cracker style buildings and bungalows dating back to the late 1800’s. This Florida homestead from a bygone era is known as Gamble Place.
Gamble Place was the rustic retreat of James Norris Gamble. He was an innovator and son of the founder of the American consumer goods company Proctor and Gamble. He would spend his winters there entertaining guests during the day with hunting and fishing trips and excursions deep into the uncharted black water swamps of Spruce Creek. It was said that many prominent historical figures of the time visited Gamble Place. Including railroad baron Henry Flagler, business tycoon John D. Rockefeller, inventor Thomas Edison, and president William Howard Taft.
Years later, after Mr. Gamble’s death, the land was deemed to Gambles daughters, Olivia, Maud, and her husband Alfred K. Nippert. Mr. Nipert was a prominent Judge in Cincinnati Ohio during the 1930’s. Continuing in the tradition of wealthy Northerners using the land to entertain guests’, Alfred Nippert through association met a young entrepreneur and cartoonist Walt Disney. As the story goes, Nippert and Disney became friends, enough so that when Disney released his first feature length film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, Nippert and his family were invited to one of the original screenings of the film. Nippert and his family loved the film so much, that he used some of the original film celluloids to create the plans to build a replica of the house from the film. There are a series of pictures and stories that show Walt Disney at the home after its construction, where Walt even donated life size versions of the dwarfs and Snow White in her glass coffin. It was then theorized after that it might be possible that Walt Disney could have gotten the idea to make a place filled with whimsical storybook places and characters in real life.
Although there is a connection between the building and the film, copywriter laws prohibit any connection with the Disney company and its intellectual property. Nevertheless, the building and the story still exist.
Former caretakers and neighbors tell stories of strange occurrences also happening in and around the property. Accounts of mystical lights, unexplained sounds and voices, and the feeling of physical presence when there was none is an all too common occurrence. One such tale is of the former caretaker Roland “Rollie” Johnson.
Rollie was the caretaker of the Gamble Place while Mr. Gamble owned the property. Mr. Gamble would be gone from the property for months at a time, so Rollie was put in charge of its upkeep during his absence. In the heart of the property was a 5-acre citrus grove with an assortment of Lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit trees. In the middle of the grove was a magnificent Southern Magnolia tree that was cutting off the light to part of the grove. While Rollie insisted that the tree be cut down, Mr. Gamble, a noted naturalist, forbade the trees removal, thus starting a rift between the two men. It has been said that the Rollies hatred of the tree continued through his whole life while he lived on the property. He would apparently kick the tree every time he walked by it. Long after his death, people said that in the area around the tree, a strange light would sometimes be seen in the forest. Some say it was the spirit of Rollie Johnson still seeking vengeance against the majestic Magnolia, which remains in the same place today.
