Architectural Treasures of Amelia Island

Architectural Treasures of Amelia Island

Amelia Island offers a unique opportunity to experience history. Fernandina Beach's Historic District is a living museum. Like sleeping beauties, the island's Victorian-era homes have been frozen in time. Each offers a story about the people and events that shaped the history of Florida's most northern barrier island.

Once a month, we will feature a home located in Fernandina Beach’s Historic District.

The Bailey House

One of the most iconic historic homes in Fernandina Beach's Historic District, the Bailey House was built in 1895. Recognized in the National Register of Historic Places, the house has many features typical of the Queen Anne style. Popular with painters and photographers, it is a feast for the eyes with its contrasting colors highlighting gables, turrets, windows of all sizes and shapes, and unique fish scale shingles.

Effingham Wagner Bailey was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1866. A job with the Clyde Steamship Line brought him to Fernandina. When the steamship company left the island, he joined the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad. Bailey was highly entrepreneurial and helped build the island trolley and the 34-room Keystone Hotel. He was a prominent member of St Peter's Episcopal Church.

Kate MacDonell, Effingham’s bride, was the daughter of Augustus O. MacDonell, the resident manager of the Florida Railroad, and granddaughter of Alexander Harrison MacDonell. The MacDonell family lived on the Harrison Plantation, located mid-island.

The Bailey House is one of many "brides' houses" – gifts from grooms to their brides-to-be. Kate's parents gifted the couple the property adjoining theirs on Seventh Street. Kate chose a design by a popular architect, George W. Barber. In its time, it was considered the height of opulence with its one bathroom.

The Bailey family owned the house for 70 years. When a paving project threatened a grand old oak tree adjacent to the house on Ash Street, Kate Bailey sat on her porch with a shotgun in her lap, threatening anyone who might want to take the tree down. The tree is affectionately known as "Kate's Tree."

The house enjoyed a successful run as a bed-and-breakfast and is now privately owned.