Fernandina Beach · Centre Street
Florida House Inn
A downtown Fernandina inn a block off Centre Street where Union officers were billeted in the Civil War, run as a boarding house and hotel by Annie Leddy from 1873.
- Built
- 1850s–70sThe inn dates it to 1857; its own history page says 'probably built between 1857 and 1859' as a boarding house. Run as a boarding house and hotel by Annie Leddy from 1873. See notes for the conflicting NRHP account.
- Type
- Inn
- Rooms
- 17
- Area
- Centre Street
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district
The story
The inn’s history says the building went up c. 1857-1859 on land once owned by David Yulee’s Florida Railroad Company, and that Union officers were billeted there during the Civil War. Annie Leddy bought the property in 1873 and ran it as a boarding house and hotel for nearly 40 years. She joined it in 1901 with the 1882 rooming house next door, which forms today’s two-building inn. The inn names Ulysses S. Grant, Jose Marti, Mary Pickford, Laurel & Hardy and the Carnegies among past guests. From 1940 it reverted to a boarding house and declined until Bob and Karen Warner bought it in 1990 and reopened it after about a year of remodeling; Ernie Saltmarsh has owned it since 2010. The 1973 NRHP nomination quotes an 1889 guide calling it ‘Exceeding neat, clean and orderly’.
The ghost story
The inn's own history page says it is 'rumored to be frequented by several unearthly guests': a provocatively dressed woman, a mustachioed man in a military jacket with a small boy who drowned on the island, and a maid who sometimes tidies and sometimes throws plates. The Amelia Island CVB adds that guests and staff report the lavender scent of 'Miz Leddy'.
Source: www.floridahouse.com
Good to know
- Breakfast: included
- Parking: on-site free
- No elevator
- No pets
- Address: 22 South 3rd Street, Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
Sources (4)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.