Amelia Island Williams House, Fernandina Beach, FL » historical

Centre Street Renovation Underway

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:46:47 +0000

Former Bank of America building being remodeled

We love to see the downtown area of Fernandina Beach being restored and maintained. Don Shaw owns a building he built further west on Centre Street that houses his own book store, Books Plus and Magna’s Salon. Recently he purchased the former Bank of America building and is now in the process of renovating it for its next life. The plan the last I talked to Don is to establish both a restaurant and retail option within the building. It appears they are going to add old brick to the exterior as well as completely reworking the interior. We wish Don much success and are pleased to see his dedication to continuing to utilize and maintain this historic area. We also look forward to the potential for both a new restaurant and more shopping!

Restoration looking from the other side

Williams Family Heritage

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:59:59 +0000

Williams Family Graves

The Williams family for whom the Inn is named owned this house for nearly 100 years. The parents and most of their nine children are buried at the Episcopal church cemetery, over on Alachua Street. Marcellus purchased the Williams house in 1859 from a Boston banker (name unknown) who built the house in 1856. The fret work or gingerbread surrounding the porches was designed by Robert Schuyler, a New York architect who help build several churches in the area. Emma and Marcellus are buried beside each other in the large central headstone.

Emma's headstone

The cemetery itself is beautiful with large overhanging live oaks and actually is on a hill, something unusual in florida. Perhaps they chose the high ground intentionally!

Marcellus Williams headstone

The Williams had nine children including Kate, Arthur, Emma, Herbert, Sallie, Fannie, Marcellus Jr., Edwin, and Farey. All are buried in this cemetery except Arthur (buried in Jacksonville), Edwin (buried in Georgia) and Farey, the last child for whom we have yet to find a record. Marcellus died the year Farey was born and and her mother, Emma, died four years later. She was listed in the Census records as living with her brother and sister at the Williams House.

Kate and Emma

The house remained in the family until the last of the children residing there passed and then it went through the typical experience of older homes including law officies, rooming house and boarding house. Somehow the majority of the beautiful woodwork, stained glass windows, fireplace mantels and tiles, and even some of the original wavy window glass survived all of these experiences and are still a part of the house today.

Marcellus Jr marker

Fanny Williams Tombstone

We had the great granddaughter of Edwin come here for a meeting and she brought us numerous letters written by the family members which added a real personal touch to the family presence at the Inn. Some things, like how difficult a journey it was from Jacksonville (where Marcellus spent considerable time marketing land in Florida) to Amelia Island are hard to relate to with today’s conveniences. But, in those days it was a carriage or horse ride up the coast to the ferry and then a ferry ride to the island followed by another carrriage or horse ride into town. A world of unpaved roads, no antibiotics, written communications, few restaurants, limited shopping, no air conditioning, no in door plumbing and houses that could be purchased from Sears Roebuck. How did they survive?

Herbert Williams marker

Sallie Williams marker

You Can Lead a Horse to Water…..

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:20:57 +0000

Historic marker for watering trough

Somedays as I sit in the parlor at the Williams House my mind wanders back to what it must have been like in this place during the 1800′s. Dirt/sand streets, no indoor plumbing, no electricity, fireplace or old wood cooking stove, and fireplaces in every room for heat. Horse and buggy for transportation (or walking of course). When I am walking through the town I occasionally see very specific markers of what that time was like. Pictured above is a plaque marking the last surviving watering trough in downtown Fernandina Beach. Used today by the carriage companies for watering their horses, it was an essential part of life in those 1800′s. Apparently there were many around town in that period, and you may notice another symbol of the time, the step up right next to the watering trough. A few of the step ups still exist on some of the streets and were to facilitate getting on or off of a horse or buggy.

Watering trough and Step-up

Hitching posts, buggy whips, blacksmith shops, and stables for horses are long gone, but we are left here with a small reminder of what time and life felt like when horsepower meant something and a fill up meant water and food for your animals. We are happy to be living in a historic district where such markers of time still remain and we can be reminded occasionally of the slower pace and perhaps more enjoyable pastimes of a different era.

Carriage Rides in a Hot Historical Town

Tue, 12 May 2009 12:00:24 +0000

Ezell's ready for ride and history lesson

We had two carriage rides this weekend at the William’s House, so Boomer was the beneficiary of double treats. Let’s see I believe it was four carrots, eight chocolate chip cookies, several left over sweet rolls, and a few left over creme filled schells from the tour. Any guests who don’t finish the fresh chocolate chip cookies we put in their rooms are certainly pleasing Boomer since he is the recipient of all leftovers. It was a hot day for both the tour and carriage rides, but generally Cindy doesn’t bring Boomer out until later in the evening. When you weigh 2400 lbs, it isn’t hard to work up a sweat. There is no more pleasant way to spend and evening than to be pulled by Boomer, hear the Island’s history from Cindy (Boomer’s mom)and be dropped at the restaurant of your choice like royalty! Last I heard Cindy didn’t get a Mother’s day treat from Boomer so I guess there is more training to be done.

Sunkind's ready to tour the town

Boomer towers over 5'6" Cindy

Guest Carriage Rides at The Williams House

Sat, 09 May 2009 12:00:30 +0000

Jordan's on carriage ride

One of the favorite activities for guests at the Williams House is to take a liesurely carriage ride thru the historic downtown area with amelia island carriages . Pictured here are the Jordan’s who took a ride last weekend with “Boomer”, the most famous and largest horse in north Florida. We’ll begin showing guests on carriage rides regularly on our blog and will write in more detail about Boomer and the other horses in the Amelia Island Carriage family.