Tucked away off State Road 60, just west of Lakewood Drive, sits an historic pioneer home that sheltered centenarian Julia Winifred Moseley for most of her life, built by her grandfather in the 1880s, which in May became a filming location for a Lifetime movie.
Years before her death, August 9 at age 101, Moseley, who never married, worked to establish the Timberly Trust, in part with the assistance of school namesakes Dick Stowers, who first owned a funeral home in Brandon, and Earl Lennard, a Brandon High graduate and former superintendent of schools. Its mission is to preserve the Moseley Homestead as testament to the pioneer ways of a town claimed by Limona settlers, next door to a town called New Hope, which today is known as the sprawling suburban Tampa Bay foothold of Brandon.
Members of the Timberly Trust Board of Trustees, chaired by Mark Proctor, aim to keep an aging woman’s wishes alive, as Moseley herself attended trustee meetings, including for the occasion of her 100th birthday, March 21, 2019. Moseley sat quiet, yet attentive, in her wheelchair as trustees discussed their mission: to raise funds to maintain preservation of the homestead for generations to come, as a place where scouts, youth, bird watchers, environmentalists, historians and interested residents can get a taste for what life looked like, and smelled like, at the turn of the 20th century and beyond.
“Film crew members have assured us they are not moving anything, not disturbing anything, including the inner furnishings of the house, which includes wallpaper made out of palm frond fibers,” Proctor said.
The working title is Just Breathe, and the movie, Proctor added, is a thriller.
Behind the effort is David Yates, who as CEO of the Clearwater Aquarium, from 2006 to 2020, co-produced Dolphin Tale and executive produced Dolphin Tale 2, and who Proctor said vows to “make sure everything is kept true to prevent any damage to the Moseley Homestead.”
According to Proctor, trustees believe the movie can aid in the effort to get preservation funds from county officials and corporate, business and individual donors, as the Moseley Homestead preservation project is sponsored in part by the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources.
“And maybe we will get to tell the backstory of how the movie was produced, and maybe even use the Moseley Homestead property for a documentary, about the history of Brandon itself,” Proctor added.
In the meantime, Yates has a copy of Moseley’s book, about her grandmother’s pioneering days, “and he’s reading it now,” Proctor said. Published in 1998, the book is titled Come to My Sunland: Letters of Julia Daniels Moseley from the Florida Frontier, 1882-1886.
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