Haunted hotel guide · St. Augustine, Florida
The Haunted St. Francis Inn, St. Augustine
A 1791 Spanish colonial house on St. George Street, and the story of a young woman named Lily that has outlived every owner.
St. Augustine is often called the nation’s oldest city, and the St. Francis Inn is one of its oldest places to sleep. The house at the corner of St. George and St. Francis Streets was built in 1791 under Spanish rule and has taken in lodgers since 1845. Today it is a bed and breakfast with a pool, a small bar and a room named after its ghost.
That ghost is Lily. The inn tells her story openly on its own website, names a third-floor room after her and even sells a ghost-themed stay. It is also honest that no record proves she lived. What it has instead is more than a century of guest stories and one contractor who will not work alone on the third floor.
St. Francis Inn at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 279 St. George Street, St. Augustine, FL 32084, in the historic district
- Built 1791, by Gaspar Garcia, a Spanish infantry sergeant
- Most haunted spots Lily’s Room and the third floor, the back stairs and the hallways
- Best-known ghosts Lily, a young servant woman in white, and a lovesick young man
- Booking the haunted room Lily’s Room can be booked by name on the inn’s website or by phone at (904) 824-6068.
- Good to know Breakfast included, pool, onsite bar, and two pet-friendly rooms. Anna’s Room, Elizabeth’s Suite and the Garcia Suite are also suggested for active stays.
The ghosts of the St. Francis Inn
Lily
The inn’s version of the legend says Lily was a young Black servant, said to be from Barbados, who worked in the house in the mid 1800s. She fell in love with the nephew of William Hardee, the soldier who had married into the Dummett family that owned the house. When the uncle found out, he dismissed Lily and forbade his nephew from seeing her again.
The nephew, the story goes, took his own life in the house, either by hanging in the attic room that is now Lily’s Room or by jumping from a third-floor window. Some tellings have Lily dying too. Guests describe a young woman in white in Lily’s Room and the third-floor halls, and some psychics have told the inn that Lily and her lover have never found each other.
What guests report
The inn keeps a long list of stories. A housekeeper found the television switched off after it had been playing MTV and joked that Lily did not like MTV. A guest found the contents of her purse spread across the floor with nothing missing. One cosmetic bag was soaked while the bag beside it stayed dry. A male guest woke up under the bed and needed help getting out, and a new bride said she was kissed in the night while her husband slept.
Smaller reports include whispers and moans, a hand felt on the back stair railing, shower water that runs hotter on its own, locked doors found open and radios that change stations. The inn describes its ghosts as friendly or mischievous, never harmful.
The contractor on the third floor
In 2021 a longtime contractor told News4JAX that he had seen a housekeeper in a third-floor bedroom. When he asked about her at the front desk, the manager told him the inn had no new housekeeper and no Black housekeepers on staff. He has refused to work alone on the third floor ever since.
Investigators and skeptics
Paranormal investigator RC Davis spent two nights in Lily’s Room and said he recorded a voice talking over his own. Another investigator, Marlene Blanchard, reported a camera switching off, a pocket watch stopping and a tall man in a white shirt crossing a room. Charles Tingley of the St. Augustine Historical Society takes the opposite view: he told News4JAX that many of the city’s ghost stories use names and events that never existed. Innkeeper Joe Finnegan says simply that he believes his guests.
The other stories
Ghost tour companies add more: a Spanish soldier on the second floor, a Confederate officer in the parlor, a phantom cat and a piano that plays itself. These come from tour scripts rather than the inn, so treat them as the town’s storytelling at its most generous.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Lily's Room: A top-floor queen room with a clawfoot tub, a stained glass window, a hammered-tin ceiling and views over the courtyard and St. George Street. The legend places the nephew’s death here.
- Anna's Room: Named for Anna Dummett, who turned the house into a lodging house in 1845. One of the rooms the inn suggests for an active stay.
- Elizabeth's Suite and the Garcia Suite: Also on the inn’s list for guests who want a lively night, named for Elizabeth Dummett and the original builder.
- The back stairs and third-floor hallway: Where guests report a hand on the railing and a woman in white passing by.
History of St. Francis Inn
In 1791 the King of Spain granted the lot to Gaspar Garcia, a sergeant in the Third Battalion of the Infantry Regiment of Cuba, who built his family home here. In 1802 the house passed to Juan Ruggiers, a sea captain, whose family held it into the early years of American Florida.
Around 1838 the property was bought by Colonel Thomas Henry Dummett, a former Royal Marines officer from Barbados with a sugar plantation on the Tomoka River. His daughter Elizabeth married William Joseph Hardee, a West Point graduate who became a Confederate general. In 1845 another daughter, Anna Marie Dummett, who never married, opened the house as a lodging house while raising ten nieces and nephews. After the Civil War she led the fundraising for the Confederate monument that still stands in the plaza.
In 1888 John L. Wilson bought the house and added the third floor and mansard roof, which is why Lily’s Room sits under the eaves of a building a century older. Through the early 1900s it went by a string of names, including the Teahan House, Hudson House, Valencia Annex, Amity Apartments, Salt Air Apartments and The Palms. In the 1930s it was the Graham House, and in 1948 it became the St. Francis Inn.
Joe and Margaret Finnegan took over as innkeepers in 1985, and the inn has since added the 1894 House next door with two apartment-style suites. It remains a working bed and breakfast and a stop on most of the city’s ghost walks.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Book Lily’s Room direct. The inn sells it by name on its own site, which is the only way to be sure you get it.
- Ask about the ghost package. The inn has offered a Paranormal Paranoia stay with a ghost tour and books.
- Take a ghost walk. Several St. Augustine tours pass the inn, and the guides tell a different version of Lily than the inn does.
- Bring the dog. The Courtyard Room and Garden Hideaway are pet-friendly.
- Walk to the Castillo. The fort and the rest of the historic district are a few minutes away on foot.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Casa Monica Hotel, St. Augustine: a Gilded Age hotel a few blocks north
- Haunted places in St. Augustine: the rest of the city’s ghost stories
- St. Augustine Lighthouse: the city’s most famous haunted landmark
- Haunted hotels in Florida
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We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the St. Francis Inn haunted?
It is one of St. Augustine’s best-known haunted inns. Guests and staff report a young woman in white, moved belongings and voices, mostly on the third floor. The inn shares these stories itself but notes there is no record proving its ghost, Lily, existed.
Who is Lily at the St. Francis Inn?
According to the legend, a young servant woman who fell in love with the nephew of William Hardee in the 1800s. Their romance was forbidden and the nephew is said to have died in the house.
Can you book Lily's Room?
Yes. Lily’s Room is a top-floor queen room you can reserve by name on the inn’s website or by calling (904) 824-6068.
How old is the St. Francis Inn?
The house was built in 1791 by Gaspar Garcia. It has been a lodging house since 1845 and has been called the St. Francis Inn since 1948.
Does the St. Francis Inn allow pets?
Two rooms, the Courtyard Room and the Garden Hideaway, are pet-friendly.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- St. Francis Inn: About and history
- St. Francis Inn: Lily's Room
- St. Francis Inn
- News4JAX: Historic St. Francis Inn ghostlore bewitches paranormal investigator
- Ghost City Tours: St. Francis Inn
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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