The Florida House Inn in Fernandina Beach, Florida's "oldest operating hotel," is, according to the Herald, no longer operating. The owners have reportedly placed a "closed" sign on the door.
This is very sad news. Though the Biltmore in Coral Gables stood vacant for a number of years in the 90s, and then bounced back to life.
The Florida House Inn deserves the same fate. Built in Vernacular "Cracker" style in 1857, it adds immeasurably to the charm of the town, with its wooden fretwork balconies hung with flags. I stayed there once, in the room that Jose Marti had slept in. I remember creaking floorboards and an old-fashioned bed and an ambiance you don't very often get in Florida.
Returning a couple years later for the Amelia Book Island Festival, I had drinks in the inn courtyard with a few other writers. Sipping her wine, a middle-aged Southern poet remembered when the drinking and driving ban became law. "We thought that was crazy," she said. "I mean, how are you supposed to get home from the bar?"
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