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Kingsley Plantation was a state park from the 1950s until 1989. Tours of the house, furnished with antiques purchased in the 1950s and 1960s, were offered by park staff. In 1989, U.S. Representative Charles Bennett negotiated the creation of the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, which would include national, state, and city properties and parks. As part of the negotiation, the State of Florida purchased Fort George Island to be used as a state park, but transferred Kingsley Plantation to the National Park Service.

The kitchen was often called the John "Don Juan" McQueen house, after the person who first built Kingsley Plantation. It was later called the Anna Jai (Anna Kingsley) house, after Kingsley's wife. The kitchen building's foundation was built in the 1790s and made of tabby brick.