Ximenez-Fatio House Museum: Fatal Folklore
Many came to stay at Miss Fatio’s Boarding House, but some might never returned home. Join us for a look at the spookier side of the Ximenez-Fatio House Museum this fall!
Our Twilight Tour is perfect for all ages who are looking for a St. Augustine fun, family-friendly nighttime activity. Visit a real haunted house on America’s oldest street — The Ximenez-Fatio House Museum, circa 1798, will offer Twilight Tours every Friday and Saturday evening in October and the first weekend of November.
Twilight Tour: Fatal Folklore
Tour Dates & Times
6 PM, 7 PM, and 8 PM each night
- Oct 8-9
- Oct 15-16
- October 22-23
- Month of October 29-30
- October 30
- November 5-6
Learn about some of the more interesting guests who stayed at the boarding house and the families who owned the property in the over 200 years it has been standing. From Spanish merchants to soldiers stationed at St. Augustine, to the single ladies who ran their businesses and raised their families here, this house has centuries of stories within its coquina walls. You may even get to meet the spirit friend, Little Miss Madison during your visit.
History of the Ximenez – Fatio House – Andres Ximenez
The two-story main house was built by Andres Ximenez (an alternate spelling of Jimenez), a merchant of Spanish birth who married Juana Pellicer, daughter of Francisco Pellicer, a leader of the Minorcan community in St. Augustine.
The property’s modern name references Ximenez as well as the last historic owner of record: Louisa Fatio (FAY-she-oh), who ran the boarding house as Miss Fatio’s. Louisa purchased the house in 1855, becoming the last of three successive women owners during its years as a boarding house. Their success contributes to the historical significance of the property, because this was a time when few American women owned property in their own names or managed a respectable business.
Modern Name
The house’s adaptability to commercial activities is due in part to its size and central location near the plaza and the bay front. Andres Ximenez built the structure to accommodate his family upstairs and support them through undertakings housed downstairs.
His wife Juana probably assisted him in running a general store, tavern, billiard table, and lottery.[5] The Ximenez family did not occupy the house for long. By 1806, both parents and two of their five minor children had died. For a number of years following, Juana’s father managed the property on his grandchildren’s behalf.
Sarah Petty Anderson
Eliza Whitehurst succumbed to illness in 1838, as did Margaret Cook’s daughter. That year, Cook sold the boarding house to Sarah Petty Anderson for $4,000. She also sold Anderson an adjacent piece of property that she had purchased at auction the year before. This piece of land measured 57½ feet along Green Street (now Cadiz) to the west of the boarding house.
Anderson and her husband George were among the many newcomers to Florida in the early 1820s. Anderson’s mother, Frances Kerr, had purchased 450 acres of land west of the Tomoka River in 1818 for a plantation known as the Ferry. In Kerr’s will dated September 2, 1820, Anderson and her husband were named the heirs of the Ferry plantation.
Mount Oswald
In 1829, the Anderson’s bought Mount Oswald, a 1,900-acre plantation at the junction of the Halifax and Tomoka rivers. They later bought a third plantation, which was burned during the Second Seminole War. The ruins of this Dunlawton Plantation and Sugar Mill still stand on Nova Road, west of Port Orange, Florida. The site was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Twilight Tour is approximately 45 minutes and takes you through the beautiful 18th century home where you will hear the stories and history of the house not usually told on the daytime tour.
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