History of the J. G. Carter Building (now Ditch 13 Gallery & Gifts)
The J. Green Carter building, now Ditch 13 Gallery and Gifts, was built in the latter part of 1925 for the initial purpose of selling real estate in Fellsmere.1 J.G. Carter was not only a realtor but was the “popular and efficient” assistant manager of the Fellsmere Farms Company.2 He also served as the General Superintendent of the Fellsmere Railroad until 1913.3
J.G. (Jones Green) Carter was born on February 13, 1876, in Fauquier County, Virginia, and lived in Warrenton, Virginia, the same town where the founder of Fellsmere, E. Nelson Fell, moved to his 350 acre estate “Creedmoor” in 1909.4 In 1896, J. Green Carter attended the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, and graduated in 1899 as a civil engineer. After engaging in engineering work in Massachusetts and Texas, he returned to Warrenton to enter the real estate business.5 Most likely E. Nelson Fell met Carter in Warrenton and convinced Carter to join the Fellsmere Farms Company when Carter was about 35 years old, and to move to Fellsmere. The Fellsmere Railroad was completed in September 1910, but it is not known exactly when J.G. Carter started his official duties as “General Superintendent of the Fellsmere Railroad.”
By May of 1912, the Fellsmere Tennis Club had been formed and J. Green Carter became its first president and treasurer. Two Bermuda grass courts were constructed south of New York Avenue.6 They were located just north of where the Marian Fell Library is located on North Cypress Street.
G. Carter collaborated with fellow Fellsmere Farms Company employees R .L. James, and M. E. Hall to plat 100 lots in the first section of the J. G. Carter, R. L. James and M. E. Hall Subdivision on April 3, 1913, northeast of the Town of Fellsmere for African-Americans to live.7 Richmond Leigh (R. L.) James was the auditor and cashier for the Fellsmere Farms Company.8 Murray E. Hall was an associate of R.A. Conkling who was the superintendent of the Fellsmere Farms Company demonstration farm.9 Hall also served as the Traffic Manager for the Fellsmere Railroad from August 10, 1916, to August 15, 1918.10 On July 2, 1914, an additional 74 lots were platted north of the original subdivision.11
On February 26, 1934, twenty years later, J. Green Carter sold a 1/3 undivided interest in 91 lots in the subdivision to Jessie P. King of Fellsmere.12 In 1949, Jessie and her husband, Edward, recorded another plat adjacent to the existing Carter, James, and Hall Subdivision.13 This plat and the earlier plats are commonly referred to today as the “Hall, Carter, and James Subdivision”.
J.G. Carter purchased Lots 16-19, Block 135, (now 105 North Oleander Street) in the Town of Fellsmere at the northeast corner of New York Avenue and North Oleander Street for his home to be built in 1914.14 The 1-1/2 story Craftsman five room bungalow was built in 1914 by local builders Shupe and Shafer.15 While his house was being built, Carter bought the lots opposite his property and west on New York Avenue. Carter returned to Warrenton, Virginia in 1914 and 1915 to visit friends and relatives.16
On October 14, 1914, Carter purchased Lots 3 and 4, Block 97 (now 46 North Broadway) from the Fellsmere Farms Company for $250. It was on this site that he later built a real estate office in Fellsmere in the latter part of 1925.17
In July 1916, after the Fellsmere Farms Company went bankrupt, J. Green Carter departed Fellsmere to return home to live permanently in Warrenton, Virginia, resumed his career as a realtor, but retained his property interests in Fellsmere.18 In 1920, Carter returned to Fellsmere to spend two weeks visiting friends and looking after his property interests.19
In the beginning of December 1945, J. Green Carter and his sister, Mrs. John Carter came to Fellsmere to spend the winter at his home on Oleander Street.20 Although he was noted for his good fellowship and ability, J. Green Carter never married during his 72 years.21 He occasionally traveled and stayed with his sisters, Jeanne and Susan, or his cousin John Carter.22
On March 28, 1947, J. Green Carter placed a “For Sale” notice in the Vero Beach Press Journal which read, “For Sale – At Fellsmere (1) Stucco house of 6 rooms and bath. Nice shade trees and other planting, located on New York Avenue. Property is in good order. (2) Two room office building on Broadway. (3) Two 10-acre tract on Ditch 11, near town. For prices and other details, apply: J. G. Carter, owner, Box 186, Fellsmere, FL, until April 1st. After that, Warrenton, Va or see your own Broker.”23 Carter sold his Fellsmere home at 105 Oleander Street to Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Harris in May 1947.24 After that, Carter returned once more to Fellsmere with his cousin John of Warrenton, Virginia in December 1947 to spend the winter there for the last time.25 J. Green Carter died on November 16, 1948, at age 72 after succumbing to several weeks of illness in a nursing home in Warrenton, Virginia.26
The little two room, 544 square foot office building that J. Green Carter had built at 46 N. Broadway St. was sold by his brother’s son, Randolph Carter, to Eleanor Bergstresser on March 26, 1953, five years after J. G. Carter had died.27
During World War II, a wooden spotting tower for enemy aircraft was built immediately north of Carter’s building. The platform for the civilian volunteer spotters was approximately 30 feet above the ground. Wooden stairs were constructed on the north side of the tower. The tower was dismantled after the war was over.28
For some time in the 1950s, Dr. Kip Kelso of Sebastian used the building as an office before he founded a hospital in Roseland, north of Sebastian. Dr. Kelso would come to Fellsmere periodically to see patients and would often be paid with chickens and eggs from the townspeople.29
From 1961 to 1964, Beatrice Spivey and her three girls Norma, Betty, and Sandy rented and lived in the J. Green Carter building, which was converted into a house after the 136 square foot front porch was enclosed and made into a room.30 There were three windows in the front, a door and window on the north side, and two windows on the south side, all of which have been removed after 2002.31
On August 3, 1964, the J. Green Carter building was sold to John Hensler who owned it until his death in 1996, when the building was deeded to Robert and Anne Gagnon. Robert Gagnon was the personal representative for the estate of John Hensler.32
During 1967-68, Regina Yates and Ray Morrison lived in the little house with five children. They moved out after a year because the 680 square foot house was too small for their family of seven.33 Various other tenants rented the house between 1968 and the early 1980s. In Mid-August 1982, Paul Flores, editor and publisher, started printing the bi-weekly Fellsmere Flyer “hometown paper” from the J. Green Carter building (or house as it was then).34 After taking a leave of absence in October 1982, Flores later returned in March 1983 and resumed a weekly edition of the Fellsmere Flyer. The Fellsmere Flyer ran for only four more months until June 25, 1983, when Flores accepted a job offer that took him away from Fellsmere. Flores, in his farewell editorial, challenged the residents of Fellsmere to continue the paper but no one ever did and the Fellsmere Flyer was never published again.35
In 1992, Barbara and Donnie Wolf and their two daughters rented and moved into the house and stayed there for approximately one year before finding another place to live.36 For years afterward, the building sat vacant.37
On May 31, 2002, the Gagnons sold the building to Magnolia Farms, who restored the building to its original appearance. After the building was restored, Mary Beth Reuge, aka Nik, rented and opened Ditch 13 Gallery and Gifts in 2010. The name “Ditch 13” is derived from the drainage ditches designated on the plat of the Fellsmere Farms Company Subdivision on April 11, 1911.38 The adjacent road along Ditch 13 was re-named by Indian River County as 99th Street in the late 1980s for its 911 Emergency System; it is the first east-west road north of South Carolina Avenue.
Ditch 13 Gallery and Gifts is presently the only gift shop in Fellsmere. It features local artists, artisans, authors, local honey, and other items. Nik can even book airboat rides in the Fellsmere marshes.39 Ever since Nik Reuge’s opened her store in 2010, her blue front Amazon parrot, Buoy, labeled as “The Ambassador of Fellsmere” occupied his cage on the front porch.40 He would greet visitors to the store by saying “Hi” to them when they entered the store. Unfortunately, after 14 years at Ditch 13, Buoy died on January 1, 2024, at the age of 44. Sadly, Buoy and his cage no longer adorn the front porch after years of bringing joy to all those who visited Ditch 13 Gallery and Gifts.