Fellsmere Inn, Broadway Street, Fellsmere, Florida

Before I get started, I want to make sure to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my Sunday email subscribers. Your support means so much to me! Thank you!

Once upon a time, the Fellsmere Inn was the place to be on Sunday nights. Dinner for a dollar! Cars would line up along Broadway Street for it. If you didn't mind using a shared bathroom, you could stay overnight for another five bucks.

It was built in 1910 as a hotel for potential land buyers when Nelson Fell (hence the name Fellsmere) platted 118,000 acres of "muck, prairie, and pine lands."

Today it's a "non-operating historic landmark property" private residence. Before it can operate as a hotel again it needs to be connected to the city's water & sewer system. (The city was trying to make that possible back in 2009; I don't know if there's been further progress.) 

The inn has been recently renovated, though, with updated plumbing and electrical systems.

I think it could make a really swell wedding venue.

Tucked behind the reception desk is the pool table lounge:

A cocktail bar is to the right of the lobby...

...and there is a retail space at the lobby's opposite end. It's currently set up as a wine room, but at one time it was an antique and vintage shop.

There's also a piano lounge downstairs with some quirky furniture:

You know me, I'd be tempted to make it a little more lounge-y (especially to change those ceiling lights) like this:

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Here's the 'banquet hall' (or dining room if you're feeling more casual about it):

I feel it could be both formal and casual, styled like this:

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I especially want to paint the dining room that rich green -- it just seems a little bland compared to the rest of the inn as it is now.

Next up is the gleaming commercial kitchen:

The inn is 8,278 square feet and has 11 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms (less need to share one nowadays).

I'm on an if it were mine roll today. This is how I'd restyle that bedroom:

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This is that bedroom's attached bath:

I'd also like to style this blue bedroom...

...to look a little more like this one:

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The inn has a large outdoor dining space:

With a little tweaking, it could fulfill my wish to see it as a wedding venue:

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Here's how the inn used to look when it was on the market in 2009 and had white shutters instead of green:

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There's some confusion about whether the inn was originally known the Broadway Inn or if that was another building. This is a picture of a hotel in Fellsmere in 1912:

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Is it the original version of the Fellsmere Inn, or is it another hotel that was the Broadway Inn? I hope someone lets me know if they find out.

Also, just because I know you like cute buildings as much as I do, here's one whose provenance is clear. Check out the nearby Marian Fell Library, started by Nelson Fell's daughter: 

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It was constructed in 1915, the same year that Fellsmere made history by being the first place south of the Mason-Dixon line where women were legally allowed to vote -- five years before the 19th amendment was passed.

After that vote was cast, I bet I know where they all went to celebrate with a reasonably priced Sunday night supper. The listing is here.