Florida Discoveries 10: Dr. Beal's Shell Museum

I call it "Pulling a Maryann".  I see something while driving down the road, so I pull over and take some pictures.

When it's in my neighborhood, that's one thing.  I don't have many problems doing that when I see some pretty flowers.  But today I screeched onto the shoulder off Highway 98 (4-lane, speed limit 55) to get pictures of this building and the historic marker in front of it.  It's a little scary doing ANYTHING other than driving in a straight line, eyes on the road, when on U.S. 98 between the base and Navarre.

But I've been wanting to learn more about this building and today I finally had the time to do it.  It's right on the Santa Rosa County/Okaloosa County line on the north side of U.S. 98.

This is a house that looks seriously out of place on the highway.  It really stuck out and I wondered why it was there.  There are businesses near it, and you can see the recently built homes behind it (on the left edge of the picture).  I don't lose sleep about it or anything, just an observation.

About 2 weeks ago a blue historical marker appeared.  Today I decided to check it out and here's what I learned:

Unfortunately, I can't find anything else about this building or Dr. Beal.  The Summerhouse Restaurant is now closed.  There's a Beal Blvd. in Fort Walton Beach, likely named after this guy.

Here are other pictures of the house that I took today.