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The Ma Barker House

Ocklawaha, Marion County
HAUNTED
8STRANGENESS
OUT OF TEN

WHAT IT IS

The lakeside cottage where the FBI fought a four-hour gun battle with the Barker gang in 1935. The county moved the whole house by truck.

Kate Barker and her son Fred were tracked to a rented house on Lake Weir. Agents fired an estimated 1,500 rounds into it; both died inside. The bullet holes stayed in the walls for eighty years while the building sat in private hands. In 2016 Marion County bought it and moved the entire structure several miles by flatbed to Carney Island park, where it is being restored as a museum. Visitors report cold rooms, which the guides will neither confirm nor deny.

HOW IT SCORES

Rarity8/10
Is there anywhere else like it?
Backstory10/10
How did this come to be?
Disrepair7/10
What is holding it together?
Commitment8/10
How far do they take the bit?

NEARBY

Barberville Yard Art Emporium33 mi · Barberville The Citrus Tower35 mi · Clermont Presidents Hall of Fame36 mi · Clermont

BEFORE YOU DRIVE

ENTRY FEE
Free outside, tours occasional
HOURS
Grounds daylight; interior by event
BEST TIME
January, around the anniversary, when the county opens it.
HOW LONG
45 minutes
PARKING
Park lot
PAYMENT
Cards for park entry
ACCESS
Steps to the porch
COORDINATES
29.0392° N, 81.9339° W

Carney Island Recreation Area, Ocklawaha, on Lake Weir.

OPEN IN MAPS →
DETAILS COMPILED FROM PUBLISHED SOURCES. FEES CHANGE. CALL AHEAD.