For sale: Hideout where 'Ma' Barker shot it out with the FBI
The 1930 frame home in central Florida is substantially unchanged since the 1935 standoff. The bullet holes have been patched but are still visible.
Now here is a one-of-a-kind property: the central Florida hideout where "Ma" Barker, her son and a dozen federal agents engaged in the longest shootout in FBI history in 1935.
The two-story lakefront house in Oklawaha, Fla., about an hour northwest of Orlando, is for sale for the first time ever.
It's substantially unchanged from the 1930s, even to the vintage furniture. The bullet holes have been patched, but the marks of the more than 2,000 shots fired on Jan. 16, 1935, are still visible.
The owners are taking offers through Oct. 5, and the listing suggests that offers start at $1 million.
"There's unbelievable interest around the world in crime memorabilia," Roger Soderstrom, listing broker at Stirling Sotheby's, told The Orlando Sentinel. "People have never seen a property where everything is intact from the time of the event. We think the buyer could be someone who has a passion for crime memorabilia and who wants to build their own house and keep this as a collector's house. It could be a bed-and-breakfast. You could have weddings there.''
While $1 million seems like a high price for a home in rural Florida, the property includes 342 feet of sandy beach frontage on Lake Weir and 9.5 acres of land, which can be developed, in addition to two houses.
The original house, built in 1930, is a two-story frame home with four bedrooms and two baths, a total of 2,016 square feet. The listing adds: "Patched bullet holes are easily visible throughout the house." The house has been staged to match the historic FBI photos. You can see comparisons if you download the furniture catalog.
A second house, built in 1974, has three bedrooms and two baths in 1,869 square feet, plus a two-car garage.
The house where the shootout occurred was built by Miami furniture manufacturer Carson Bradford, and his family still owns the property. (The Barkers, both of whom died in the shootout, were renting.) The relatives decided to sell after the death of some older relatives because they weren't using the property anymore.
"We really would like to see it go into the right hands," Carson Good of Orlando, one of the heirs, told The Sentinel. "People have approached us over the years, but we never wanted to sell. We love the property."
I looked up that address: 13250 e county hwy 25 on mapquest/satelite. I think I can see that old boat house shown in the listing video. I can't find the roof of the house since it is green and surrounded by trees. I couldn't find any address on any of the info the realtor had for the public. If I lived closer, I'd get a better look.
About Teresa Mears

Teresa Mears is a veteran journalist who has been interested in houses since her father took her to tax auctions to carry the cash at age 10. A former editor of The Miami Herald's Home & Design section, she lives in South Florida where, in addition to writing about real estate, she publishes Miami on the Cheap to help her neighbors adjust to the loss of 60% of their property value.



