Florida's oldest continuously operating hotel, where a sepia photograph taken weeks after a child disappeared somehow contains her image
100 N Alexander St, Mount Dora, FL 32757
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Hotel rates from approximately $150–$250/night. Ghost investigation tours booked separately through third-party operators.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic hotel grounds; mostly flat with paved paths
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1883 · Florida's Oldest Continuously Operating Hotel · National Register of Historic Places 1987 · Calvin Coolidge Winter Visit 1930
The hotel at 100 North Alexander Street has been taking guests since 1883, when three partners — Col. John M. Alexander, Col. John A. McDonald, and Annie McDonald Stone — built the original ten-room Alexander House on the edge of Lake Dora. It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Florida.
The property changed hands and names across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the Lake House, then back to various private operators. In the early 1920s, Archie Hulbert, an experienced hotel operator from Boston, acquired it and commissioned the three-story central addition that gave the property its current layout, along with a new dining room, kitchen, and circular driveway. Lakeside Inn Properties Inc. assumed operations in 1933.
Among the notable guests: President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge spent approximately a month at the inn during the winter of 1930. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 19, 1987 (NRHP reference 87000481). The Gatehouse, dating to 1908, and Sunset Cottage, dating to 1914, remain on the grounds as part of the original complex. The inn's 90 rooms now span four historic buildings, all oriented toward the lake.
Sources
The most specific ghost story at the Lakeside Inn centers on a child. A six-year-old named Amy reportedly disappeared at Lake Dora in the late 1800s — accounts describe her following her father to the waterfront against her mother's wishes and never returning. The exact date and circumstances were not preserved in formal records.
What was preserved, or at least what became part of the inn's documented folklore, is a sepia photograph. Staff and local historians describe it as having been taken weeks after Amy's disappearance in the inn's dining room, then empty. When the photograph was developed, the image of a small child appeared standing in the background, unposed and unexplained. The photograph now hangs near the current dining area for guests to examine.
Staff have reported seeing a small girl in a red dress in the hotel's corridors, the scent of cigar smoke and perfume in areas where no guests were present, and receiving phone calls from empty guest rooms. One employee described encountering a woman in late nineteenth-century dress who disappeared instantly. None of these accounts have been formally investigated, but the inn's management has long incorporated the lore into the property's identity, and multiple ghost tour operators include the Lakeside Inn as a primary stop in Mount Dora investigations.
Notable Entities
Stay at Florida's oldest continuously operating hotel, open since 1883. The inn's 90 rooms are spread across four historic buildings on Lake Dora. The photograph of Amy hangs in the dining area adjacent to where guests take meals.
Evening ghost investigation tours of the Lakeside Inn and surrounding Mount Dora historic district, operated by American Ghost Adventures. Includes access to the inn's public spaces and documented haunted history.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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