History of Casa de Solana Bed and Breakfast
The inn’s name is a nod to original owner Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana, who was part of one of the first Spanish families in St. Augustine. At 23 years of age, he was part of the Spanish Army’s Mounted Dragoons, and was one of just eight men allowed to remain in the city after British occupation in 1763. At this time, he built a tabby house (concrete made of burnt oyster shell lime, sand, ash, water and additional broken oyster shells) on the property and took Mary Mitchell (a London-born Protestant) as his wife. After two children together, the couple’s marriage was still not recognized by the Catholic Church, and eventually dissipated.
Solana then took a second wife (Mary Mastres from Menorca) and proceeded to give the world 11 more children. Even then the house was like a B&B, as the couple often offered hospitality to Native Americans, injured soldiers, and almost any traveler who needed a place to rest.