Our Story

In 1798, Don Andres Ximenez built this fine three-story house made of coquina for he and his bride, Juana Pellicer Ximenez. Juana’s father, Francisco Pellicer led the Menorcan exodus of 1777 out of New Smyrna, from their illegal bondage by Dr. Andrew Turnbull. Pellicer brought approximately 600 people to St. Augustine at the invitation of British governor Colonel Patrick Tonyn. Francisco Pellicer was also a master carpenter and may well have been involved in the construction of this home. Ximenez included a grocery store with a storage room and space for a billiard hall on the first floor, private family bedrooms and a living area on the second floor, and servants/enslaved persons and storage area on the third floor. There were also two large warehouses on the property along with a detached kitchen and washroom.

Juana Ximenez died in 1802, at the age of 26 from yellow fever followed by two of their five children the following year perishing from the same disease. Andres followed in 1806 at the age of 53. As the children were minors, the home was maintained by the Pellicer family until 1830, when Mrs. Margaret Cook fully purchased the property.

Mrs. Cook converted the home into a boarding house by turning the tavern into a lobby, the billiard hall into a fine dining room, and the two warehouses into four guest rooms. Mrs. Cook hired Eliza Whitehurst, a widow who was also likely her sister, to manage her new boarding house. In June 1838, Mrs. Whitehurst died and the business once again changed hands.

In July, Sarah Petty Anderson, also a widow, purchased the boarding house from Mrs. Cook and managed it for over a decade. In 1852, Louisa Fatio became the manager of Miss Anderson’s boarding house.