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 northernmost barrier island.

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

The Tabby House

It is a favorite of photographers and painters alike. The Tabby House sits on the corner of Ash and Seventh streets across the street from the Bailey House. Its unique construction is eye-catching and is the reason for its name — The Tabby House.

The house, constructed of tabby, is the only house of its kind built in the late 19th century that remains on the island. It was not unusual to use this construction technique at the time it was built. Robert Sands Schuyler, a popular island architect in the late 1800s, designed the home. The method of construction is simple — a mixture of Portland cement and oyster shells is poured into molds to create the walls of a house. Tabby depends on the abundance of oyster shells harvested from middens. Middens are the garbage heaps found in coastal areas and often made of oyster and clam shells. Thanks to the Indian tribes that occupied the coast of Florida, many middens of oyster shells were left for later generations to use in the fabrication of tabby houses.

Locally found oyster shells were burned in kilns and open pits, and then pounded into powdered lime, then mixed with whole oyster and clam shells, clean sand, and fresh water to form bricks or poured into wooden frameworks to create walls or foundations. You can see the distinctive horizontal lines that indicate the individual sections of the wall. Tabby was also used to make the floor.

It took three years to build the house. The cement wall and simple fencing were constructed to keep out the local free-range animals. The detailed trim on the galleries is typical of the intricate detail that characterized Schuyler’s buildings. Similar detailing can be found in other Schuyler houses and buildings, including the Williams House, Fairbanks House, and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.

Built in the late 1880s during Amelia Island’s so-called Golden Era, it could not be more different than the colorful, elaborately detailed Victorian period homes that are its neighbors. At one time, the busy intersection boasted three bed and breakfasts, the Tabby House being the only exception.

The builder of the house, Charles Lewis, came from Massachusetts in 1867. He was the land commissioner for the Florida Land and Improvement Company, the Florida Transit and Peninsular Railroad Company, and the Florida Town Improvement Company — the largest holder of real estate in Fernandina at the time. He was a partner in the purchase of the Florida Mirror, the newspaper, which is still in print under the name Fernandina News Leader. In 1900, he was listed as postmaster in a Fernandina directory.

The house has had many lives. At one time, it operated as a funeral home; later, it was abandoned, suffered a fire, and barely survived. It remains as one of the historic district's more unusual and important homes.

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