The great-granddaughter of Robert Hungerford has joined a lawsuit against Orange County Schools to ultimately get the district to return the former Hungerford School site to the town of Eatonville.
Talking over Zoom, Bea Hatler says she wants to see the former Hungerford School site turned into a Zora Neale Hurston Museum and STEM center.
She’s the direct descendent of the family who donated the land for the school in the 1800s with this clear and singular vision:
“That this was strictly used for education and growth for the Eatonville citizens in America for them to get their first start, and they were very deserving of this," said Hatler.
She said growing up she used to love hearing stories about her great-grandfather Robert Hungerford. Hungerford was a white doctor who administered care to mostly Black patients during Reconstruction. He also taught some of his young patients to read and write.
Her great-great-grandparents donated the 160 acres of land for the school after Robert died from the yellow fever he contracted from a patient.
The land became the Hungerford School, which educated generations of students in Eatonville, until the school was torn down during the COVID pandemic.
When Hatler heard about the fight to get the land returned back to the town of Eatonville, she says she joined the lawsuit that the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community had already filed against Orange County Schools.
“I had to be involved because of our passion," said Hatler. "Even though my great-grandfather is deceased, I’m not and I’m here for this event.”
Orange County Schools had plans to turn the site into mixed housing, until the developer it was working with pulled out of the project unexpectedly this spring.
The district says it still has no plans to donate the land to the town of Eatonville.
But Hatler said she knows N.Y. Nathiri and other Eatonville community leaders and activists like John Beacham have big dreams for the site. And she wants to see those dreams, and the dreams of her Hungerford ancestors through.
That's why she's headed to Eatonville in September for a visit, that will double as a visit with her grandson in Orlando.
"I'm coming in September. And my passion is to know people, know and feel the soul and the vibrancy that Eatonville has to offer," said Hatler. "And I'm coming maybe the second week of September, and I just want to breathe it in."
Read more about the fight for Hungerford here.
