Amelia Schoolhouse Inn

The Amelia Schoolhouse Inn is a converted 1886 schoolhouse in the Fernandina Beach historic district, and it is the most design-led place to stay on Amelia Island.

Why it is different from the other downtown properties

Downtown Fernandina Beach's accommodation is mostly Victorian bed and breakfasts — porches, antiques, breakfast at a shared table, an innkeeper who knows the town. That is a specific and pleasant register, and it is not for everyone.

This is the alternative: a boutique hotel in a historic institutional building. Big rooms with high ceilings and tall windows, because that is what a nineteenth-century schoolhouse gives you. A contemporary interior rather than a period one. A bar, and a pool.

If you want a historic building without the B&B intimacy — no shared breakfast conversation, no minimum-age policy in most cases, a door that locks on a proper hotel room — this is the property on this island that does that.

The building

An 1886 schoolhouse. Institutional Victorian architecture converts unusually well to hotel use: the rooms were always large, the windows were always tall, and the corridors were always wide.

What you get

A pool, which is rare downtown and useful in a Florida July when the beach is a two-mile drive.

A bar on site, which means a drink without going out — worth more than it sounds after a day that started at sunrise.

Big rooms. The schoolhouse geometry is the whole appeal.

The location

In the historic district, walking distance to Centre Street. Twenty-plus restaurants inside eight blocks, the independent shops, the Amelia Island Museum of History, and the Fernandina Harbor Marina at the bottom of the street where the sunset happens — downtown faces west over the Amelia River.

What you give up

The beach, about two miles east: five to eight minutes to the Fletcher Avenue accesses or Main Beach Park, where the free lots fill by late morning in season.

Golf, spa, tennis and children's programming, all of which are on the south end.

Full-service hotel scale. This is a boutique property, not a resort. Expect a small front desk and limited hours on it.

Who it suits

Couples and friends' groups who want downtown's walkability and a contemporary room. Anyone who has stayed in one too many B&Bs. Anyone who wants a pool and a bar in a historic district.

Practical notes

Book ahead for spring, the Shrimp Festival in early May and the winter holidays, and expect minimum stays at weekends and during festivals.

Festival weekends close Centre Street to traffic — excellent from inside the district, awkward if a car needs moving.

Parking arrangements at downtown properties vary. Ask when you book.

What we have not confirmed

Address, phone, room count, whether the pool and bar are currently operating and their hours, breakfast arrangements, pet and age policies, parking, and the 1886 date and the building's original use.

We do not publish nightly rates — they move daily — or ratings, ours or anyone else's. See our editorial policy.