Highland Manor was originally built for the Eldridge family in 1903, one of Apopka’s first families. In 1920, a physician named Dr Thomas McBride and his wife Helen McBride bought the stately home to use as his medical practice and family residence.

This 4,000 square foot home served the doctor for countless years. He once declared delivering over 3,000 babies adding that if all the monies owed to him were paid, his house could have been lined with gold. The good doctor’s wife Helen was an avid pilot who owned several of her own airplanes and flew in competitions nationwide. During World War II she taught her own Civilian pilots training Course and trained some of the soldiers who fought in the war.

Exploring the home’s eight private rooms, it’s easy to imagine the anxious fathers that must have traipsed the very same floorboards, sighing with relief at the first sound of their newborn’s cry or the many vigils for the sick and dying that must have taken place under it’s gable roof.

Doctor Thomas McBride’s nurturing spirit earned him a reputation as a local hero or patriarch of the town by many Apopka residents. After a life long dedication to helping others, Dr. McBride passed away peacefully in his much loved home in 1978.