BY JENN SAMSEL
Special to the Monitor
The Monday, June 9 Keystone Heights City Council meeting featured a discussion about a proposed Heritage Commission Museum. The council members engaged in debates regarding the location of the museum and the crucial issue of funding, ultimately tabling the topic to discuss at a future meeting.
The Heritage Commission hosted a workshop on June 5, during which they discussed partnering with a museum formerly in Jacksonville.
Dr. Rhonda Heiser, a grant writer and consultant, proposed that the city host the Museum of Southern History. Heiser curated the Duval County museum and gained notoriety by discovering the flag that draped Abraham Lincoln’s coffin within the museum’s collections. The museum auctioned the artifact for half a million dollars, and Heiser said she planned to use some of those proceeds to fund the museum in Keystone Heights.
In the spring of 2025, the Heritage Commission hosted a Chautauqua event featuring a pop-up museum.
One suggestion for the proposed museum was to construct a 10,000 square foot building at Sunrise Estates. Dr. Heiser estimated the total cost for the construction and land to be around $86,000.
City Mayor Nina Rodenroth suggested that the museum remain downtown. However, there are currently no buildings downtown that can accommodate the museum’s requirements.
City Attorney Rich Komando suggested a review of how public-private ownership would work and whether any city ordinances would apply to the partnership.
All the museum artifacts of Keystone Heights are currently stored in a climate-controlled storage unit.
Though this conversation was paused, there was significant back and forth on the topic. The discussion is expected to continue in August or September.
