Mary Bethune Home

Mary Bethune Home is located at the campus of the Bethune-Cookman University on Dr Mary McLeod Bethune Blvd in Daytona Beach, Florida. The university was founded in 1904 as the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls by civil rights leader Dr Mary McLeod Bethune. The house now serves as a museum and is open to the public 9.15am to 11.30am and 1pm to 2pm Monday and Wednesday, 1pm to 4.30pm Tuesday and Thursday and 10.15am to 11.30am and 3pm to 4.30pm on Fridays.

Built in 1915, Dr Bethune's home on the campus is called 'The Retreat' and a plaque shows that it is a National Historic Landmark as well as a United Methodist Historic Site. The house is a simple two story frame structure common to the period and was bought for Dr Bethune by generous friends. Members of the public can visit the house but tours are restricted to 20 people.

Whilst the building has no particular architectural significance it does contain important archives. Among these are Dr Bethune's books, personal papers, trophies, plaques, and photographs as well as an extensive collection of elephant figurines. Dr Bethune died in 1955 and was buried in a simple gravesite, which is located just behind the home.