Destination: A Foodie’s Exploration of the Historic Atlantic Coast
By Janie Pritchett-Clark
The thing about Bed & Breakfast Inns is that it’s like going to stay with Aunt Clara – someone’s Aunt Clara – in her rambling old house full of trinkets and treasures of long lost eras and pockets of cool air where time has stopped.
Which is exactly what you’re hoping for when on vacation. Downtime.
Here everything is clean and crisp, comfortable and well worn. There are no stark hallways and shiny elevators, just stairs that creak gently underfoot. Every need has been anticipated with Southern charm.
I’m sitting on the porch in a red rocker, tasting the essence of local life in every sip of fresh brewed tea. Visitor guides and brochures of dozens of places to see are scattered all around me, and below in the rough old brick street, people amble by. Snippets of gossip about ghost tours rise up through a stand of bamboo that’s as tall as the roof of this two-story inn. This stand of bamboo is bigger around than five men could circle. It’s green against green against a clear blue sky. I am a voyeur from my perch – and none is the wiser.
A sea breeze makes its way from the harbor up the narrow street and plays the blades and hollow trunks like an instrument. I wonder aloud what year this bamboo was planted – it could be centuries old. This is the oldest Inn in the oldest city in America.
Rooted in History
In the sweltering heat of August 1565, Spain’s most experienced admiral, Menendez de Aviles, arrived off the coast of La Florida, the “land of flowers.” The territory had been named and claimed for Spain some 52 years earlier by Spanish treasure hunter Don Juan Ponce de Leon.
Menendez and his soldiers came ashore on Feast Day of St. Augustine, and as the first Governor of Florida he settled the city he named St. Augustine. Founded 42 years before the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia and 55 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts – St. Augustine is the oldest permanent European settlement on the North American continent.
The oldest surviving house in St. Augustine dates back to the 1700s. Just down the block on the corner of St. Francis and St. George Streets, sits the St. Francis Inn. Although it began as a residence in 1791 known at the Governor’s Palace and has passed through many military veterans of stature since then, the Inn opened as a place of lodging in 1845. The name was adopted in the 1940s. Innkeepers, Joe and Margaret Finnegan purchased the Inn in 1985, and still operate it today.
The St. Francis Inn and its companion property, the Wilson House, is home away from home to visitors from all over the globe. There are 12 rooms, four suites and ambiance galore. A shady Spanish-style courtyard greets visitors from the street, and once inside the Inn, the smells coming from the kitchen of Chef Douylliez make your traveler’s stomach grumble.
Chef Gary, as he likes to be called, is an ample man with an appetite for sweets. St. Francis is perhaps the only inn in the city to have a full time chef, and Chef Gary spends his days concocting and creating treats for the guests. Accommodations include – not just breakfast – but an evening social hour, a full dessert course at dusk, Sunday brunch, and a never-ending plate of fresh baked cookies.
And that’s the next great thing about being on vacation. Indulging.
The St. Francis Inn has a well-earned reputation for food. In 2008, the Finnegan’s found a menu in a box under the main staircase. It told the tale of a 1940s restaurant at the Inn, featuring t-bone steaks and pie a la mode.
“Pieces of the Inn’s historic puzzle become clearer through our local guests’ stories,” Finnegan shares about the discovery. “Many people remember coming to the restaurant years ago with their families after church, and we enjoy listening to each memory, from the way the room was set to the comfort food they ate.”
Today the menu for guests is comfort food you’ll only be served in the South. We sampled cinnamon pecan French toast that made me beg for the recipe, fragrant citrus pancakes, sweet banana pudding and strawberry delight full of fresh Florida strawberries and whipped cream. In fact, we sampled every thing Chef Gary put in front of us. Never say, no.
Sightseeing in St. Augustine
The city’s history is full of drama and character. Railroad baron and Standard Oil Company co-founder, Henry Flagler arrived in 1885, ushering in the city’s golden era of opulence as a popular winter resort.
The St. Francis Inn is a short walk to all the attractions of St. Augustine, but you can take a trolley to help you explore. We were almost overwhelmed by all there was to see and do in town. From history to art, shopping to tours – you an easily plan on several days of activities that suit young and old.
Remnants of Spanish, English and French cultures are everywhere. So it’s not surprising that we found Claude’s Chocolate on King’s Street, just around the corner from Aviles Street, the namesake of the city’s founder.
Chocolatier Claude Franques hails from Toulous, France and arrived in his favorite city – St. Augustine – via the prestigious Rene Pujol in Manhattan. He moved to this historic coast to follow his love of making chocolates. His wife, Nicole, tends the shops.
We discovered that tastings are held daily, and for a nominal fee visitors can sample what’s behind the counter. There are dozens of options, of course, each a beautiful work of art. We soon learned that all of Claude’s chocolates are luxurious, European-style confections made by hand in small quantities. We found ourselves in ganache heaven, with flawless mouthfuls of sweet and sublime.
“We do a fair amount of business shipping our chocolates to people who have visited our shop,” says Nicole Franques, who hosted our tasting. They are a coveted gift item, she says. We not only left with 36 carefully chosen pieces wrapped and guarded against the heat, but with a cheat sheet so we could order when we returned home. My stand alone favorite was dark chocolate covered chewy caramel topped with sea salt, but the chocolate on chocolate Gator Shock took a close second. The mouth is the perfect temperature for chocolate – just put a truffle on your tongue and let the magic melt begin.
Jacksonville Beach
Less than an hour up the coast is Jacksonville Beach, a hip kind of town that has seen change much like its companion Atlantic tide. In the 1880s, Jacksonville Beach was the hub of fun, a “famous beach” with a boardwalk and attractions as Henry Flagler’s railroad spearheaded much of the development.
Originally called “Ruby” named after the daughter of railroad surveyor, W.E. Scull, Jacksonville Beach was a tent-town where crowds of beachgoers staked their claim on the beach. It wasn’t until 1925 – and several name changes in between – that it became Jacksonville Beach for good.
One of the hallmarks of life at the beach is the Casa Marina Hotel, the only original property left standing near the sand dunes. It first opened its doors in 1925 when nearly every Florida postcard of the era proclaimed Jacksonville Beach as the “world’s finest.” While other nearby properties fell to fire, the Casa Marina’s pioneering new sprinkler system saved it from ruin.
Now considered a boutique hotel, Casa Marina draws a crowd of travelers and locals to its quaint Spanish design, which has been renovated to fit modern needs. It’s now a hot spot for weddings and small corporate retreats, a beach-side watering hole for Jacksonville’s up and coming, and an elegant dining destination for locals.
At 31, Mark Vandeloo is one of the younger general managers in the industry. It’s interesting that a young entrepreneur would be so enthralled with an historical property.
“The business is ever evolving and it’s a challenging one,” says Vandeloo. “That’s the fun part – keeping the history and beauty of an 85-year old hotel up to speed by balancing the weekday business traveler and the weekend ‘dream’ wedding and leisure romance guests.”
Vandeloo got his start at the hotel as bartender. “I took a huge interest in the hotel as I met the people who walked in the door,” he says. “They had fond memories or a story of its history and what it meant to them. It seemed that the Casa Marina offered something different and special to everyone. During those first few months, I listened to their glamorous stories and felt we could recreate that ‘magic’ in our world today.”
Where the salon of yesteryear hosted 200 dining and dancing guests, the dining room now serves Chef Aaron Webb’s “New Beach Cuisine” with a nod to Greek and Mediterranean foods familiar its owner. The Penthouse Bar overlooks the beach and is the happening place after five for martinis and tapas, the menu inspired by the wedding and reception menus developed by Chef Webb’s seven years in the Casa Marina kitchen.
The Penthouse Bar was certainly the place to be and be seen. The sun was on the other side of the state and the waves took on that pewter mug look. Diehard surfers were after one last wave. There were more than 10 martini options on the menu and I did my best to try them all, along with a sampling of tapas. There was fresh baked bread and homemade olive tapenade ripe with fresh garlic , toasted bruschetta with diced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, crsipsy crab cakes plump with fresh blue crab and sweet chili and mustard aoli, and spicy lime drenched ceviche. It was a delicious endeavor.
“I enjoy the history we make every day,” says Vandeloo. “Hopefully in 85 years, people will visit and tell their story to another bartender about the great experience they had.”
St. Simons Island, Georgia
The sand dune studded beaches of Florida slide away when you cross the border into Georgia. The parched beach cacti and sea oats give way to wide marshes and dark, shady hammocks with gigantic Live Oaks and miles of Spanish Moss. The latitude of St. Simons Island is about in line with that of Chicago, making it the Western most Eastern coastline.
If you look at a map you’ll see how far the coast secedes into the mainland. This geographic characteristic has had a tremendous influence on the Georgia coast past. The area has always been a major port. Timber was the commodity of its earliest exporters, and the ballast stones of the incoming ships were tossed into the water to make way for timber cargo. These ballast stones affected the tides – as new construction does today – and created the sand barriers that give the area islands their name.
While Florida was being settled by the Spanish, Georgia was occupied by the British. Plantation owners came from the Carolinas to create huge cotton plantations, and in the 1930s the area became a coastal resort destination.
If you want to be part of the true history of St. Simons Island, there is only one destination. That’s the King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort. There’s nothing you can’t find at your fingertips – premier accommodations, fine dining, beaches, golf, tennis – all delivered with excellent service. If all that doesn’t hold your interest for a week of downtime, kayak and car day trips to neighboring islands, marshes and swamps and attractions are plentiful.
The King & Prince Club opened as a seaside dance club in 1935, then six years later opened the hotel to the public. It was the place for dining and dancing with the best names in the region, warm hospitality with modern features and magnificent ocean views. Take a walk through the hotel memorabilia and you journey through 75 years of hospitality and tradition.
The coast is much different in these environs above the St. Mary’s River. Bridges span miles of salt marshes. Tides span hundreds of feet, covering and uncovering sandbars that invite exploration as to what lives beneath the waves.
Days can be spent lazily here, a game a golf on renowned and restored 18-hole, Par 72 course that bends around ancient forests, salt marshes, and dramatic lakes and lagoons – its signature is a group of four holes gently carved from small coastal marsh islands and accessed by 800-feet of elevated cart bridges. This bold and brilliant design marks the highlight of the back nine originally designed by Joe Lee and renovated by course architect Billy Fuller in 2009.
There are activities for every interest, and a full dining facility overlooking the sea. The King & Prince hospitality includes massage therapies and treatments at The Royal Treatment Cottage. There are several seaside pools and, of course, wide open ocean to explore.
We paddled kayaks through the salt marsh, taking in the history from our eco-guide and the wildlife that surrounded us – herons and egrets, osprey and marsh birds with their tiny buoyant nests bobbing in the tips of the marsh reed.
We tasted salt pickle weed growing on the banks and maneuvered around huge beds of oysters rising up from the ebbing tide. We battled the confluence from marsh to sea and paddled to Sea Island, where we could see how the tide is the true architect of the shoreline. As tides dump sand here and move water there, the shore is an ever-changing landscape and background for history in the making.
The solution, according to Chef Nicolas Bell, is the Yum Yum Shoppe. Bell is an executive chef who serves as personal chef to visitors to St. Simons Island and surrounding areas. He’s cooked for the likes of Bill Gates, but you don’t have to be a zillionaire to afford the service. Prices are extremely reasonable, he says, and you can easily pick your menu items online. 
Within steps of the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine is Cathedral Place, a town square steeped in history and European culture. One of the doors that leads to an unforgettable experience is that of Bistro de Leon.