Old Davie School Historical Museum

Posted: 05.08.2025 | Updated: 05.08.2025

In Broward County, Florida, stands the town of Davie, a 35-square-mile town with its roots in simple agricultural beginnings. However, nothing is simple about what waits inside one of its oldest structures. 

It’s called the Old Davie School Historical Museum, a two-floor building that served as a staple of Davie’s future progress. Its classrooms, once filled with students and faculty, now remain filled with historical remnants of the town’s past. However, some say there’s a lot more than history that’s stayed behind in this former school. 

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Is the Old Davie School Historical Museum Haunted?

The Old Davie School Historical Museum seems like a simple, antiquated two-floor school from the outside. It’s what lurks on the inside that fascinates believers of the unexplained. Something that makes visitors feel as if they’re not alone. 

History of the Old Davie School Historical Museum 

The town of Davie was discovered in 1905. Florida’s governor came up with a plan to drain the Everglades, revealing 100 million acres of black muck soil. 

The potential alone drew families who maintained education as a top priority. But with no school, improvisation was needed. Classes were first held in a packing house along the canal, then in a room of the general store. 

The first official schoolhouse was built in 1914 with the help of real estate mogul, Robert Davie: The Davie School — a wooden, two-room schoolhouse that stood on one acre. The population outgrew its size by 1916, however.

The town of Zona, renamed Davie by this point, petitioned the Broward County School Board for what would be the first permanent school building in the reclaimed lands of the Everglades. Architect August Geiger designed the school in 1917, and a year later, 90 students showed up ready for class. 

The Old Davie School wouldn’t be forgotten. Today, Davie lives up to the pledge of one of its earliest citizens, that it will ever be the town’s center of social action and the main cause of any progress the town makes. 

The Many Uses of the School

It has since been used for several purposes: a town hall, dance hall, Broward County School Board Office Space, as well as a flood and hurricane shelter. Today, it’s primarily a museum dedicated to preserving and educating the public about the rich history that thrives in Davie to the present day. 

The lower level houses a restored 1920s classroom. It also holds multiple exhibits that illustrate the history of the pioneers’ westward movement into the Everglades and the town of Davie. 

The campus itself holds several structures from Davie’s early days at the turn of the 20th century: a reconstructed 1909 pioneer home, as well as a reconstructed citrus packing house that demonstrates the full-length process of the industry that put Davie on the map, from citrus growing and picking to packing and shipping. 

Haunted Happenings

There’s a darker side to the land that Davie and the Old Davie School sit on. Southeast Florida was once home to the indigenous Tequesta tribe for over 2,000 years. 

That’s before battles, slavery, disease, and displacement wiped them out by the 1800s. It leaves room to wonder if their unfortunate fate may have left a stain of peculiar energy that gives the Old Davie School its ghostly aura. 

Kim Weismantle, the museum’s educational director, has occasionally seen some inexplicable events; chairs will slightly move, and she’ll hear disembodied footsteps coming from upstairs in the two-floor building…when she’s the only one there. Kim recalled returning to the security cameras to find a rational explanation, but seeing no one. 

War Party Paranormal, a paranormal investigation team from South Florida, was invited to the school to conduct an investigation of the property. Their results were rather disturbing, to say the least. 

During one EVP recording, the question was asked, “What subject did you teach?” A voice succinctly answered in a raspy voice, “Math.” The team’s sensors also went off, detecting someone walking by when no one was in that location. Mysterious dark figures were also caught lurking in the corners in various photos they took. 

Additionally, visitors have also reportedly felt an overall weird feeling come over them when they walk through the halls. 

Could they be a tell-tale sign of a history of the former school that remains hidden? Better yet, the answer may have something to do with the transplanted historic houses kept on the property. It’s hard to say, and the truth is we may never know. Nonetheless, the Old Davie School is filled with a ghostly presence that still waits for the final bell to ring. 

The Tequesta Tribe

Florida was once home to several indigenous tribes long before European settlements. One of the earliest was the Tequesta, a small, peaceful tribe that inhabited South Florida – near Biscayne Bay – for nearly 2,000 years. They were hunter-gatherers during this time,  surviving mostly on marine wildlife and using things such as shark teeth for tools. 

Their first contact with Europeans was in 1565 when Spaniards touched land at Biscayne Bay. Their mission was to convert the Tequesta – numbering 800 at the time – to Christianity. They were initially well received to the point that the chief’s nephew journeyed with the Jesuit priests to Havana to be educated. The chief’s brother went to Spain, where he converted to Christianity. 

Their relationship dissolved in 1570, however. For an undocumented reason, Spanish soldiers executed the Tequesta chief’s uncle. The trust that the Jesuits had spent five years building with the Tequesta was gone, and so was their religious mission, which they ultimately abandoned. 

The friction between the Tequesta and Europeans worsened in the coming years, with competing Native American tribes and resistance to Catholic missionaries. All the while, the Tequesta’s numbers continued to dwindle. The remaining number of Tequesta members had migrated to Cuba by the time Spain had surrendered Florida to Great Britain in 1763. By the 19th century, only a few of this once peaceful tribe were left. 

Haunted Miami

Beaches, theme parks, and fun are all part of the experience when visiting Florida. However, another side awaits believers and nonbelievers once the sun goes down. Voices of the dead fill the silence of the night, restless spirits wander, and many of the Sunshine State’s most charming sites become havens for all the reasons we fear the dark.

Such is the case with the Old Davie School Historical Museum, once a simple school and a starting point for the development of the town of Davie. Yet so much remains unanswered as to why it’s one of Florida’s most haunted locations. It only adds to the alluring, mysterious nature of this beautiful, yet spooky state. 

Thinking of taking your next trip to Florida? Why not add a spine-tingling ghost tour to your itinerary with Miami Haunts! Learn more about the history behind some of the Sunshine State’s most well-known locations, as well as the ghosts that dwell within. Be sure to also connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for chilling updates and more!

Sources:

• https://miamihaunts.com/
• https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/haunted-grave-tales-of-south-florida-paranormal-activity/2021338/
• https://olddavieschool.org/history/#av_section_4
• https://www.yourvalley.net/stories/signs-of-the-past-meet-the-remarkable-rp-davie,351869
• https://www.wlrn.org/south-florida/2025-02-04/paranormal-supernatural-haunted-old-davie-school
• https://vizcaya.org/beyond-vizcaya/tequesta/#:~:text=By%20the%201800s%2C%20the%20Tequesta,Tequesta%20is%20the%20Miami%20Circle.
• https://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/tequest/tequest1.htm
• https://www.trailoffloridasindianheritage.org/miami-circle-3/#:~:text=The%20Tequesta%20culture%20occupied%20the,decades%20at%20the%20Miami%20Circle.