Coombs House Inn hosts weddings, rehearsal dinners, family gatherings, corporate meetings and small retreats, with Camellia Hall seating up to 60 guests and more room outdoors in the gardens. Guests can stay on site in 24 suites spread across two Victorian houses and a few smaller buildings in Apalachicola, on the Gulf coast of the Florida Panhandle.
Seminars and company events
For companies, the inn works best as a retreat venue: a board meeting, a planning session or a team offsite where the group sleeps, meets and dines in the same historic compound. Camellia Hall, a restored carriage house, is used for corporate meetings as well as private parties, and the formal dining room of the main house can host a group dinner. The inn welcomes groups, so a block of suites can be held for participants. The website does not list meeting equipment, so audiovisual needs should be raised with the request.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are the inn's main event business. Ceremonies take place in the Camellia Gardens or in one of the historic churches nearby, which the inn names as Trinity Episcopal, the Methodist church, St. Patrick's Catholic Church and a Baptist church. Receptions and rehearsal dinners can be held on site, and a wedding party dinner can be served in the formal dining room of the mansion. A private parlor in the house can serve as a getting-ready room or a hospitality suite for the bridal party. With seven honeymoon suites among the rooms, the couple and close family can stay on the property.
Rooms and capacities
Camellia Hall holds up to 60 guests, and the gardens add outdoor space for a ceremony or a cocktail hour. Inside the mansion, the grand staircase, original chandeliers and wood floors frame smaller dinners and photographs. The parlor and the dining room suit small groups rather than a full reception.
Accommodation
The inn lists 24 guest suites furnished with European antiques, oil paintings and oriental rugs. Some suites have kitchenettes or private verandas, and seven are set up as honeymoon suites. The suites are spread between the main house, the Marks house and smaller buildings on the grounds.
History and setting
The main house was built in 1905 for James N. Coombs, a lumber businessman, by the builder George Marshall. It had black cypress paneling, nine fireplaces, a carved oak staircase and a twelve-foot entrance hall. A fire damaged it in 1911, and the house later stood empty for years. Interior designer Lynn Wilson and her husband Bill Spohrer bought it and restored it with local craftsmen; the work was completed in August 1994, when it opened as an inn. In 1998 they added the Marks house, a Victorian home from 1910 one block away. Apalachicola is an old fishing port on what the region calls Florida's Forgotten Coast.
Getting there
The inn is at 80 Sixth Street in Apalachicola, about a two-hour drive from Tallahassee or Panama City Beach. Guests usually arrive by car.
