Amelia Island Williams House, Florida Bed and Breakfast

Cindy and Jazz prepare to tour guests thru historic downtown

The Williams House Christmas experience begins on Christmas eve with horse drawn carriage rides thru  historic Fernandina Beach while remaining guests enjoy heavy hors d’oevres with wines, hot cider, coffee and tea.  Each thirty minute ride gives guests a glimpse into times past and the historical homes in our downtown area.   It was a warm day this year with temps around 70 degrees, with rain moving in just after our tours were completed.

More guests enjoy the tour

Guests enjoy treats on the Williams House porch

Deborah serves wine in the dining room

All aboard !

After a filling Williams House breakfast on Christmas morning, guests have until 2:30 to take walks, naps, bike rides or just relax before Deborah’s afternoon buffet is served.  This year it included ham, unforgetable chicken casserole, broccoli salad, scallop potatoes, sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, pasta salad, butter beans,  and rolls.  Dessert included pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cream puffs, danish pastries and brownies,  wines, ice tea, apple cider, coffee, and water.  A feast fit for any occasion, but especially enjoyable on a warm Christmas day.

Christmas buffet ready for eating

Another look at the buffet

Guests enjoy the food

Plenty of good food and good company

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Deborah and Byron

Dianne prepares participants for the ghost tour

In October we offered guests a special package that included a guided Amelia Island Ghost Tour one evening, followed by a horse drawn carriage ghost tour with “Boomer” the second evening.   We hadn’t been on the walking tour for  awhile, so we joined up with two couples staying at the Williams House and set off for an evening of history and ghostly tales.  Of course, the tour starts at the Williams House, so it was fun to hear some of the tales and add a few experiences of our own to Dianne’s discussion. Several people captured some orbs on their cameras floating along the front porch!

Dianne shares stories at theWilliams House while Cinnamon trys to figure out whats happening

The tour takes visitors by many of the famous houses in town that are also connected to some prior or current ghostly activity.  We stopped at Kate’s tree and the Bailey house.  Stories say that Kate Bailey tied herself to the tree with a shotgun to prevent the town from taking out the beautiful live oak to widen the street near her home. The Thompson house across the street has had apparitions of Nettie Thompson passing thru walls where the door to her kitchen used to be, as well as movement of items in rooms when people are visiting.

The Bailey house, formerly a B&B, now a private residence

Villa Las Palmas,a house with a love story!

The tour goses by the Florida House, apparently with quite a lot of ghost activity and recent site of a paranormal weekend with a group that does TV episodes.  As the oldest hotel in Florida, it should have some ghosts!

Deborah at a spot renowned for "cold chills" in front of Florida House

Like most ghost tours, the fun ends at the graveyard near the Episcopal church, where the Williams family is buried and where Dianne says there is a lot of paranormal activity.  Dianne has found that holding the camera away from your body, over your shoulder creates the best pictures of orbs and colored light activity.  I’m not sure if there is any science to this, but it did produce some action on her camera!

Something blue enters the picture at St. Michaels cemetery

Deborah looks around as Dianne shares near the Williams family gravesite