The Laurel Oak Inn, Gainesville, Fla - Bed and Breakfast on Waymarking.com

The Lassiter House was constructed on this site in 1885 by Wilburn Lassiter and his second wife, Fanny. This house and the neighboring Baird mansion (now The Magnolia Plantation Bed and Breakfast Inn) were built on five acre parcels which dominated the block. The Lassiter family sold the house to William Reuben Thomas in 1920. He converted it into two apartments, one on each floor, and made substantial modifications. The house was electrified (it was already plumbed for coal gas lighting fixtures), the stair railing and baluster were removed to create a hallway from the porch to the second floor apartment and primitive plumbing was installed. This change made it impossible to travel from the first floor to the second without going outside the house. The kitchen was eliminated in favor of creating an additional bedroom.
Its condition began to deteriorate through the fifties and sixties. This area was known as "Hippie Hill" and Gainesville was known as the "Berkely of the Southeast". Rumor has it that a certain Tom Petty was a tenant in the late sixties when his formative band, Mudcrutch, was the local rage. The house was actually condemned in 1979, but somehow survived until the early nineties when it was purchased by Butch and Joyce Redstone. The Redstones planned to convert the property into a Bed and Breakfast Inn and did major renovations which stabilized the condition of the house. Monta and Peggy Burt bought the house in April of 1999 and began a two year odyssey to restore it to its former floor plan and ambience. The Laurel Oak Inn opened in November of 2001. We invite you to share our joy when you stay with us.

Name: The Laurel Oak Inn Address: 221 SE Seventh Street Gainesville, FLA USA 32601 Phone Number: 352-373-4535 Web Site URL: [Web Link] Proprietor/Owner: Peggy and Monta Burt Dates/Seasons Open: year round Geographical Setting: Suburban Special Features: Queen Anne Victorian Architecture Area Attractions: Universtity of Florida Rating: Number of Rooms: Not listed Menu Specialties: Not listed Languages Spoken: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/10/2018 hart612 visited it 07/23/2008 the federation visited it

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