Call, a Democrat, was appointed as Governor of the Florida Territory from 1836 to 1839. He later became a Whig and was appointed as governor again by the winning presidential candidate. His property later passed to Call's daughter Ellen Call Long, who owned it until 1903; that year her granddaughter Reinette Long Hunt purchased the Orchard Pond property along with The Grove. Hunt would later sell the property to Dr. Tennent Ronalds, the only surviving son of Dr. Edmund Ronalds and an obstetrician. A keen sportsman, he took an active interest in developing a quail hunting operation.