1569
The inlet and surrounding land at latitude 29 degrees on Florida’s Atlantic coast was recorded as Los Mosquitos by the Spanish explorers.
1763
Florida was ceded from Spain to Great Britain at the end of the French and Indian War.
1768
Andrew Turnbull, a Scottish physician, obtained a substantial land grant in Florida near Mosquito Inlet. To establish a settlement there, he recruited a large number of Mediterranean laborers, especially from Greece, Italy, and the Spanish island of Menorca. He named this settlement New Smyrna after the birthplace of his wife.
Map showing the Turnbull grant, Mosquito Inlet at the top
1777
The Turnbull settlement collapsed due to reported mistreatment of laborers. Most fled to St. Augustine.
1783
Florida again fell under Spanish possession following the American War of Independence. Land grants were made available to those who were willing to sign loyalty oaths to Spain.
1803
The Spanish governor of Florida, Enrique White, granted 175 acres at Mosquito Inlet to Antonio Pons II. Pons was a Minorcan who moved to Florida as part of the New Smyrna settlement.
Drawing of the 1803 Pons grant, modern-day Ponce Inlet.
1812
Antonio Pons II died in the clandestine ‘Patriot’s War’ between American landowners in Georgia and Spaniards in Florida.
1828
A new survey of the Pons grant was made for Antonio’s widow, Benita Usina Pons, and the land was now described as 320 acres.
1845
Florida became a state.
1859
Mercedes Triay, a descendant of the laborers from the New Smyrna settlement, obtained the Pons land grant from Pons’ heirs for $100.
1861
The American Civil War began. Gomecindo Pacetti, the mayor of St. Augustine, surrendered the city to Union forces and fled to Cuba with his wife Mercedes Triay. The Pons grant was then left to his brother Bartola Pacetti, who had been living on the property for some time. The brothers were descendants of the laborers from the New Smyrna settlement.
That same year, Bartola Pacetti married Martha Jane Wickwire at Dunlawton Plantation, located in what is today’s Port Orange.
1861-1865
During the American Civil War, Mosquito Inlet was used by ships attempting to break through the Union blockade of the South. Bartola and Martha Pacetti opted to stay with her relatives in Spruce Creek, on the west side of the Halifax River, to avoid the dangerous skirmishes between the blockade runners and the Union navy.
1865
Following the end of the Civil War, Bartola and Martha moved back to their property at Mosquito Inlet. Bartola constructed a small house partially from shipwreck-salvaged wood. This house was constructed in a Florida Cracker style, and was home to the Pacettis and their expanding family. The Pacettis may have also provided some limited lodging for hunters and fishermen who visited the area.
Florida Cracker home of Bartola and Martha Pacetti, no longer standing
1881
William Aiken Walker, an artist from South Carolina, began wintering on the Pacetti property. Walker was well-known for his paintings of life and landscapes in theReconstruction-era South. He reportedly urged the Pacettis to expand their small boarding house business into a larger hotel and cater to the increasing demand for lodging from tourists from the north. The front part of the Pacetti Hotel, the part closest to the Halifax River, is believed to have been constructed in this year.
1883
Light-House Establishment Engineer and former Union General Orville Babcock was sent to Mosquito Inlet to search for a suitable location for a new lighthouse. Numerous shipwrecks at the inlet plus petitions from area residents had convinced the government that a lighthouse was necessary. Babcock selected a site on the north shore of the inlet on property belonging to the Pacetti family.
1884
Bartola Pacetti sold 10 acres of land to the Light-House Establishment for the construction of a new light station. The total price of that sale was $400. He also sold100 acres to Orville Babcock, who hoped to build himself a home and create a development called Pons’ Park, named after Antonio Pons II who had first acquired the land from the Spanish government in 1803. Babcock drowned in the inlet that same year, but the name for his proposed development lived on as the town of Pons Park, eventually becoming Ponce Inlet.
1886
Bartola and Martha took the money made from those two sales of land and used it to expand their boarding home business. The rest of the Pacetti Hotel, including a large rear porch and several upstairs bedrooms, was constructed around this time.
Pacetti Hotel showing rear the rear porch, c1900
1887
Construction of the new lighthouse next-door to the Pacetti Hotel was finished. On November 1st, the Mosquito Inlet Lighthouse was illuminated for the first time.
1898
Bartola Pacetti died. The hotel was now operated by Martha Pacetti with the help of her son Gomez.
Gomez Pacetti (left) entertaining a fishing party in front of the hotel
1900
By the turn of the century, the Pacetti Hotel had become famous throughout the United States as a fishing resort. The Pacetti men were popular fishing guides, and Martha Pacetti was known as a fine seafood cook. Tourism was fast becoming a mainstay of the area’s economy, and the hotel attracted important patrons such as James N. Gamble, chemist and vice president of the Procter and Gamble Company; Dr. Lewis Diehl, president of the Louisville College of Pharmacy; Charles Beale, a wealthy landowner from Asheville, North Carolina; and Stephen Minot Weld, Jr., owner of the S. M. Weld Cotton Company and a retired Union army general.
Another prominent guest was William. H. Gregg of St. Louis, who was a manufacturer and an avid sportsman. His 1902 book Where, When, and How to Catch Fish on the East Coast of Florida was inspired by his experiences at the Pacetti Hotel. Captain John Gardner, son-in-law of Bartola and Martha Pacetti (he was married to their daughter Seraphina), assisted Gregg in writing his book.
Gomez Pacetti, William Aiken Walker, and Dr. Lewis Diehl in front of the Mosquito Inlet Lighthouse
1907
By this time, the rear porch of the Pacetti Hotel had been closed off and turned into a large dining room and caretaker’s room. The second story front porch of the hotel was also removed around this time.
1908
The Pacetti Hotel hosted the wedding of Martha’s granddaughter Nettie Pacetti to Walter C. Rowell, who was then serving as the first assistant keeper at the Mosquito Inlet Lighthouse.
1917
Martha Pacetti died. The hotel was left to her son Gomez.
Martha Pacetti shooting a gun at Spruce Creek
1920
Gomez Pacetti sold the Pacetti Hotel to Fred and Elizabeth Phares, from Lexington, Kentucky. The Phares had plans of turning it into a clubhouse called the “Rest-a-While” for hosting dinner and dance parties.
1921
Fred and Elizabeth Phares sold the Pacetti Hotel to Jean Long, a widow from Pennsylvania.
1923
Jean Long sold a half interest in the property to relative Edmund Widdowson, a wealthy land speculator and businessman who was also from Pennsylvania. By this point, the Pacetti Hotel ceased being a functioning hotel and became a private winter residence for the Long/Widdowson family.
1927
Mosquito Inlet was officially renamed Ponce de Leon Inlet and the name of the nearby light station was changed to match that of the inlet. The town was still called Pons/Ponce Park.
1929-1936
Following the deaths of Jean Long in 1928 and Edmund Widdowson in 1929, the Pacetti Hotel sat mostly abandoned.
1936
Olivia Gamble, heiress to part of the Procter and Gamble fortune, purchased the Pacetti property from the heirs of Jean Long and of Edmund Widdowson, reportedly to honor the memory of her father James N. Gamble who frequented the hotel to fish and relax.
Olivia Gamble sitting in front of the Pacetti Hotel
1936-1938
Olivia Gamble undertook serious restoration of the property and has been credited with saving the structure, which she called “Rest-and-be-Thankful.” These improvementsincluded a concrete seawall to replace the one made of palm logs, a new dock, roof repairs, window replacements, a new front gate, an outdoor grill area, a water-tank outbuilding, new landscaping, and a fresh coat of paint on the exterior of the building.
The Pacetti Hotel mid-restoration, c1938
Jesse Linzy, a local resident who had lived in and worked at the building as a fishing guide and handyman for the Pacetti family, remained on as a caretaker. He soon married Olivia Gamble’s cook, Ida Linzy. The couple continued taking care of the hotel throughout Olivia’s ownership of the site.
1955
Jesse Linzy died after many years of living and working at the Pacetti Hotel.
1961
Olivia Gamble died. She had been using the Pacetti Hotel as a winter guest home for her friends and family. She willed the hotel, and most of her fortune, to nephew Louis Nippert. She also granted a life estate in the building to her life-long friend and companion James Marlay Kugler.
James Marlay Kugler fishing at the Pacetti Hotel
1963
The town of Pons/Ponce Park was formally established as the town of Ponce Inlet.
1970
James Marlay Kugler died, so Louis Nippert and his wife Louise ‘Liesel’ Nippert tookownership of the Pacetti Hotel. Mr. Nippert visited the property and hired local couple Billy Joe and Ann Caneer Potts to serve as caretakers of the hotel since the Nipperts lived in Cincinnati. Shortly after, two upstairs bedrooms were combined and a bathroom added next to them, forming a suite where the Nipperts stayed during their visits to the Pacetti Hotel.
Mrs. and Mr. Nippert standing in front of the Pacetti Hotel
1972
Ann and Billy Joe Potts had gotten involved with local town residents who were looking to preserve the nearby lighthouse. That same year, the Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association was formed by local residents like Ann and Billy Joe who volunteered their time, labor, and resources to protect and preserve the mostly abandoned structure. Ann was elected president of this newly created preservation association.
Ann Caneer and her dog on the side lawn of the hotel
1973-1981
Louis and Louise Nippert became the majority owners of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, though they held minor ownership rights before and after. While under Nippert ownership, the Reds visited the Pacetti Hotel each year during Spring Training, which took place in Florida. During this period, the Reds won back-to-back World Series in 1975 and 1976, and are considered by many to be the best baseball team ever assembled. The Nipperts were also minority owners of the Cincinnati Bengals football team.
Billy Joe Potts, the Nipperts, and legendary Reds catcher Johnny Bench on the porch of the Pacetti Hotel
1981
Ann Caneer and Billy Joe Potts split up, with Ann remaining as the caretaker of the Pacetti Hotel.
Ann’s interest in NASCAR brought new activity to the hotel with social events and the residence of driver Jimmy Means and his team whenever races brought them to Daytona. Ann also served as a scorekeeper for races at the Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR driver Jimmy Means fishing off the hotel’s dock
1982
A two-car garage is constructed at the rear of the Pacetti Hotel.
1985
After serving as a volunteer for 15 years, Ann Caneer was hired as the museum’s paid operational manager. Her title would eventually be changed to Executive Director.
1992
Louis Nippert died and the Pacetti Hotel property passed to his wife Louise.
2008
Ann Caneer retired as Executive Director of the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. Ann was also a founding member and first president of the Florida Lighthouse Association.
2010
Ann moved to Alabama to be with family.
2011
The Pacetti Hotel property was deeded by Louise Nippert to the Greenacres Foundation, an Ohio non-profit founded by the philanthropy of Louis and Louise Nippert.
2012
Louise Nippert and Ann Caneer both died in this year.
2012-2019
The Pacetti Hotel remained vacant while the Greenacres Foundation considered various plans for its future.
2019
The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association contracted with Greenacres Foundation to purchase the Pacetti Hotel. The sale was concluded on October 2, 2019.
The Pacetti Hotel in 2020
2020
The Constance D. and Paul B. Hunter Foundation agreed to grant financial support for the restoration and rehabilitation of the Pacetti Hotel as a public museum. The museum was renamed the Constance D. Hunter Historic Pacetti Hotel Museum to honor Mrs. Hunter and her philanthropic legacy.
2020-2023
Smaller restoration projects were performed on the Pacetti Hotel site by the maintenance staff and volunteers of the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association. These projects include landscaping, restoration of the garage and outbuildings, and general maintenance throughout the site.
Behind the scenes, administrative work was done to prepare the site for major restoration. This work included successfully applying for placement on the National Register of Historic Places, hiring a historic preservation architect, obtaining relevant permits, developing educational material for the site, extensive research into the site’s history, and much more.
2023-2024
Major restoration of the Pacetti Hotel was performed. Nearly every part of the building and site was repaired or restored so that the building could open to the public in 2024.
The Pacetti Hotel mid-restoration in 2023
2024
The Constance D. Hunter Historic Pacetti Hotel Museum opened to the public.
