Sample-McDougald House

Built 1916, listed in the National Register of Historic Places 1984
450 N.E. 10th Street, Pompano Beach
(Formerly at 3161 North Dixie Highway)

Photo captions:

Sample-McDougald House, Late 1940s
Image Courtesy of the Pompano Beach Historical Society

Sample-McDougald House, 1999
Image Courtesy of Bill Cunningham

Sample-McDougald House, 2011
Image Courtesy of Broward County Libraries Division

The Sample family arrived in South Florida soon after the turn of the century. John M. Sample settled in the Pompano area and purchased farming land prior to 1910 from the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway. Albert Neal Sample, a one-time architect, followed his younger brother, John, to the Broward County area in 1911 from Chester, South Carolina. Neal purchased his brother’s land on June 11, 1915, and began building the house in 1916. The Sample-McDougald Home, also known as the Old Sample Estate and Pine Haven, is a 17-room Colonial Revival structure constructed by Sample in the style of a Greenville, South Carolina, home he previously owned.

The home, built of cypress throughout, features a wide columnar porch that extends in an U-shape around the east, north and west side of the house and at one time, it faced busy Dixie Highway. Its 11-foot ceilings and numerous windows are a good example of climate control before air conditioning. The foundation was reinforced with extra brick pillars and because of its superior construction withstood the devastating hurricanes of 1926 and 1928. The home served as the base for Sample’s farming operations that stretched from Lighthouse Point out west past what is today Powerline Road. Sample funded and constructed a road in 1917 in order to reach his crop land. Today that thoroughfare, Sample Road, bears his name. In the days when Pompano was a farming community and the recently completed Dixie Highway was the only passable highway leading into Miami, the Sample-McDougald home was a stopover for motorists.

Following Mr. Sample’s death in 1941, Sarah Sellers and William D. McDougald, Sr., purchased the home on August 14, 1943. Over the decades, the McDougalds watched farmland surrounding their residence transform into commercial property. The strip, once known as the new Dixie Highway, became the old Dixie Highway. A founding member of several North Broward historical societies, Mrs. McDougald feared that because of its location the structure was threatened and its future uncertain. It was her wish to see the stately home preserved and included in the National Register of Historic Places. The McDougald children inherited the house and, in keeping with their mother’s desire, nominated it for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Anxious to see the house preserved for future generations, the McDougalds supported several attempts to preserve it, but logistical and financial complexities could not be overcome.

In 1999 several community volunteers created the Sample-McDougald House Preservation Society, Inc. They sought community support for moving and restoring the historic landmark and municipal, state and citizens’ contributions were forthcoming.

During the late evening hours of May 29, 2001, the house was moved off its original site and over the next seven hours moved south on Dixie Highway and then east on N.E. 10th Street to its new location. Hundreds of people lined the streets to view this once in a lifetime sight. Restoration, furnishing, landscaping and site development is complete and the house is open to the public, from Tuesday thru Saturday, 12noon to 4pm, with tours starting on the hour.  Closed Sunday and Monday.

For more information, call 754-307-5446 or e-mail susangingerich@samplemcdougald.org​ or visit www.samplemcdougald.org.