FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – The Palace Saloon, Florida’s oldest bar, still sits at the very location where it was built in the 1870s: at the corner of Centre and 2nd streets in the heart of Fernandina Beach in Nassau County.
As you can imagine, it has quite a history.
It was originally a dry goods store and haberdashery, but when Louis Hirth bought the building in 1878, he had another vision for it.
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He transformed it into a “gentlemen’s saloon.”
At the time, ships from around the globe frequented Fernandina’s port, which was among the busiest in the South. The rails were busy, too, meaning both shipping magnates and railroad tycoons frequented the area.
What was then known as the Ship Captain’s Bar was the place they came to lift a glass in elegant style.
It served only the elite. The Carnegies from nearby Cumberland Island and the Rockefellers and other socialites were known to walk through the doors.
It was the first hard-liquor bar to sell Coca-Cola.
Business boomed at the Ship Captain’s Bar -- until Prohibition.
Once the new law took effect, the bar stopped selling liquor. But history has it that the bartenders waited until the very last minute, selling liquor until midnight.
But Hirth was a shrewd businessman and had a plan to keep the business open by transforming the business once again.
It successfully sold Texaco gasoline, ice cream, specialty wines, 3% near beer, cigars -- and let’s not forget Coca-Cola.
The place at Centre and 2nd officially became the Palace Saloon in the early 1900s and was still a big draw for patrons.
A devastating fire in 1999 could have been a deathblow to the business, but the saloon survived.
Its current-day owners worked to restore its charm, reputation, and vitality.
Walk through the doors today and you’ll see some of the elegant features that made it famous, from the inlaid mosaic floors and embossed tin ceilings to a 40-foot bar lit with gas lamps and walls painted with murals that transport you back in time.
And, of course, you can belly up to the bar, enjoy a glass of suds and maybe even a salt spray from the nearby port.
