About the Magnolia Plantation

About the Inn

The house was constructed in 1885 by Dudley and Melinza Williams. Dudley was a lumberman at the time and the quality of the woodwork throughout the house is a testimony to his profession. The house is known locally as the Baird Mansion, named for the family that owned and lived here for almost 70 years. Emmett Baird was a local businessman who owned and operated the Standard Crate Company and a sawmill at the Hague. During the period from the late 1960’s to 1990 the house was occupied by various groups including hippies and college students. It became a mecca for the east coast hippie movement in Gainesville in the late 1960’s. The Baird Mansion was purchased by Cindy and Joe Montalto in 1990 and restored into the Magnolia Plantation Bed and Breakfast Inn. The restoration has kept the home’s original floor plan including the double parlors, five bedrooms, a dining room and butler’s pantry.

The Victorian Style of the house, uncommon in the southeastern United States is called French Second Empire. The style is characterized by the mansard roof and the tall frontal tower. The house retains its original red and green slate roof, which is another characteristic of the style. The home has a full three stories with a fourth level in the tower creating 5400 sq. feet of living space. The third floor has been remodeled as living space for the Montalto’s. This space was originally the site of many parties and ballroom dancing in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Another unique feature is the ten original fireplaces throughout the house. There is one in every room on the first and second floor.

As with most grand old houses and this one is no different, a legend has developed concerning the most prominent owner of the house, Emmett Baird. Emmett allegedly found a treasure chest belonging to Black Caesar, Billy "bow leg" Rogers, Gaspar, and John Lafitte at Fowlers Bluff, on the Suwannee River, in the late 1800’s. Legend has it that he used his treasure to make his fortune and purchase this house. He was supposed to have buried the remains of the treasure in this house before he died in the 1920’s. Before you start looking for the treasure please remember we "gutted" the house in the 1990 restoration. We uncovered decades of neglect to reveal the historic treasure you see before you, no pirate treasure was found, sorry!

About the Innkeepers

Cindy and Joe returned to Gainesville after a thirteen-year absence to restore the Baird Mansion into Magnolia Plantation Bed and Breakfast Inn in 1990. They were married in Gainesville in 1977 when Joe was in his final year at the College of Civil Engineering at the University of Florida. Like many college students they could not wait to leave Gainesville and moved to Texas to work and live. When they returned to Central Florida to live they began the six football weekend pilgrimages to the Gator Football games and rediscovered Gainesville from a non-student perspective. Soon they found themselves coming up to visit Gainesville on non-football weekends at various times of the year. That’s when they discovered that Gainesville had an historic district with Victorian Homes. Since Cindy and Joe had discovered the wonderful experience of staying at a bed and breakfast inn in Bar Harbor, Maine in 1985 they talked about the possibility of opening their own inn someday, somewhere.

In 1990 Cindy and Joe purchased the Baird Mansion, or at least what was the Baird Mansion. Hippies and college students had inhabited it for 30 years. It was more like Animal House than a Victorian mansion. It was love at first site when Joe first saw the house but Cindy was a little apprehensive. The house was filled with debris, 20 mattresses, 7 couches, 30 banana trees, dog poop in the central hallway and other outstanding features. Of course, all this was left in the house for Cindy and Joe to deal with after the closing.

Cindy and Joe restored the 1885 French Second Empire Victorian Mansion to Magnolia Plantation and opened the Inn on May 3, 1991. Since then the inn has received many honors including: "Best Bed and Breakfast in Florida" by Florida Living Magazine and "Most Romantic Bed and Breakfast in Florida" by Most Romantic Escapes in Florida guidebook. The Inn and Cindy's recipes have been featured in a variety of guidebooks and cookbooks. Articles have appeared in such publications as Southern Living, Victorian Decorating Ideas, Florida Living and The Orlando Sentinel.

The City of Gainesville Commission was so excited that Cindy and Joe created the first bed and breakfast in the City and restored the former Baird Mansion they proclaimed May 11, 1991 Cindy and Joe Day with the Mayor conducting a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.