Waterfront St. Augustine B&B on a colonial lot occupied since the 1780s, haunted by a prankster innkeeper and a Lady in Blue
142 Avenida Menendez, St. Augustine, FL 32084
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Bed and breakfast rates; see website for current pricing
Access
Limited Access
Historic building with multiple structures; uneven surfaces possible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1788 · Second Spanish Period Architecture · Minorcan Colonial History · St. Augustine Historic District
The property's documented history begins with the Roque map of 1788, which shows a wooden building described as in poor condition on the site. Francisco Marin — a member of the Minorcan colony that had settled in St. Augustine — acquired the house and lot in the 1780s. The Minorcans came to Florida as indentured laborers for an indigo plantation at New Smyrna in 1768 and, after years of brutal conditions, marched to St. Augustine under Spanish authority in 1777. Governor White conveyed the formal title to Francisco Marin Jr. in 1806.
The colonial structure at what was then 47 Marine Street reflects the urban regulations imposed by a 1573 royal ordinance — masonry walls built to the street line, entry through a side door rather than the street facade. It is a textbook example of Second Spanish Period domestic architecture in St. Augustine.
During the nineteenth century, Captain Henry Belknap purchased the Victorian cottage at 142 Bay Street (now Avenida Menendez) on the bayfront and later acquired two additional adjacent structures: the Andrew Burgess cottage in 1893 and the remodeled Marin colonial house. The three buildings, spanning roughly a century of construction styles, were consolidated into one interconnected structure.
After Belknap's death in 1909, John Campbell converted the property into modern apartments. By 1932 it passed to Beulah Robinson Lewis, then to the Graubard and Stacklum families in 1988, who operated it as The Villas de Marin rental units for fourteen years. A full restoration returned the property to hospitality use in July 2003 as the Bayfront Marin House B&B.
Sources
The inn's best-documented paranormal presence is Francisco Marin himself, the colonial figure for whom the property is named. Staff describe him as a light-hearted soul — a partier and prankster rather than a threatening presence. The most-cited incident involved a guest who woke around 2:00 a.m. to the sound of a loud party coming from an upstairs room. The guest confronted the noise twice; it stopped both times. Staff confirmed the room was vacant and undisturbed. In a separate account, a 34-year telephone technician encountered music playing on a dead telephone line at the inn. Asked if he had experienced anything similar in St. Augustine before, he replied: "more than you can imagine."
The second and arguably more prominent figure is the Lady in Blue — the ghost of a woman believed to have died on the property at some point in its long history. She is described as appearing in a blue dress, and guests have reported the soft sound of a woman singing in empty areas of the inn. Lights flicker without apparent cause, and objects are occasionally found displaced from where they were left. The inn's front door has reportedly opened on its own during staff rounds.
Both presences fit within St. Augustine's layered paranormal tradition — the city's 450-plus years of continuous habitation, multiple colonial occupations, and documented epidemic deaths have contributed to one of the most concentrated concentrations of reported haunted sites in the United States.
Notable Entities
Rooms and suites in a rambling structure combining three historic buildings — a colonial-era home, a Victorian cottage, and an Flagler-era addition — directly across from Matanzas Bay. Full gourmet Southern breakfast and happy hour included.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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