Built in 1763 by a Spanish Dragoon officer on St. Augustine's oldest street, investigated by Ghost Hunters University as the city's most paranormally active inn
21 Aviles St, St. Augustine, FL 32084
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Bed and breakfast rates; contact inn for pricing
Access
Limited Access
Historic 1763 tabby construction; multi-floor inn with stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1763 · First Spanish Period and British Occupation · Tabby Construction Architecture · St. Augustine National Historic Landmark District · Oldest Street in the Continental United States
The property's documented origins place it at the moment of one of Spanish Florida's defining crises: the British occupation of 1763. Under the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years' War, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain and the colonial population was largely evacuated. Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana, a 23-year-old officer in the Spanish Army's Mounted Dragoons, was among only eight men permitted to remain in the city.
Solana constructed a tabby house — a regional building material made of burnt oyster shell lime, sand, ash, water, and crushed additional shell — on what the British then called Hospital Street, now Aviles Street. The house stands today as the seventh-oldest structure on what is recognized as the oldest street in St. Augustine, and by extension one of the oldest streets in the continental United States.
Solana married twice: first to Mary Mitchell, a London-born Protestant, then to Mary Mastres from Menorca. The household became eleven children across both marriages and operated informally as a place of hospitality — receiving Native Americans, injured soldiers, and travelers in need. This tradition of lodging guests connects the colonial-era use directly to the inn's current function.
The property remained in use through the Second Spanish Period (1783–1821) and into American territorial and statehood eras. It has operated as a bed and breakfast since the contemporary restoration, receiving recognition for its historical integrity within St. Augustine's National Historic Landmark District.
Sources
In 2012, a team from Ghost Hunters University conducted an investigation of St. Augustine's historic inns and concluded that Casa de Solana contained the most paranormal activity they encountered in the city. Their most notable capture was an image of a Spanish Mounted Dragoon seated in a wing chair in the Montejurra Room.
The inn's staff and longtime guests identify several distinct presences. Mary Mitchell — Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana's first wife, a London-born Protestant who appears to have adapted to colonial Florida life — is described as a woman in white who opens doors, appears on stairs, and is seen in the courtyard. Staff characterize her as kind and gentle.
Frederick (also rendered Fredrico in some accounts) was a Spanish Dragoon who guarded the building in the 1800s and was shot in the back with an arrow during an attack on the property. He is reported most frequently at the inn's entrance and in the courtyard — the spaces he would have been responsible for protecting. His presence is described as watchful rather than agitated.
Victoria is associated specifically with the Montejurra Room, which staff say witnessed both her birth and death. Guests in that room have reported shoulder touches in the middle of the night and the presence of a figure near the canopy bed and fireplace.
A fourth unnamed presence — childlike giggles heard inside closets — has been reported by multiple guests in various rooms. The inn's framing is consistent: whatever happened in these spaces over 260-plus years, the residual activity appears confined to specific rooms and is characterized as benign.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Guest rooms in a tabby-construction inn built in 1763 by Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana, one of only eight Spanish soldiers permitted to remain in St. Augustine during British occupation. The Montejurra Room and British Suite are identified as the inn's most paranormally active spaces.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Las Vegas, NV
The Aladdin Hotel opened in Las Vegas in 1966 as a major resort and casino property. The hotel underwent renovations and continued operations until its closure in 2003. Planet Hollywood Entertainment acquired the property in 2005, completely renovating and reopening it in 2007 as Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The 7th floor Panorama Suite emerged as the property's most paranormally active location during Aladdin Hotel operations.
Genoa, WI
Big River Inn dates to either 1879 or 1896 (sources vary) in Genoa, Wisconsin. The building originally functioned as a restaurant before evolving into a combined inn and restaurant. It now operates as Water View Inn, maintaining its paranormal reputation while serving contemporary hospitality functions.
St. Augustine, FL
Casa de Sueños — 'House of Dreams' — was built as a single-family home in 1904 by the Carcaba cigar-making family at 20 Cordova Street in St. Augustine. After remodeling into Mediterranean Revival style, the home spent more than two decades as a working funeral home before reopening as a bed-and-breakfast in the late 1990s.