Historic Airbnb in Pensacola

Our “New” Historic Airbnb in Pensacola, Florida

When we finally moved into our dream home in Texas, it was our 29th home. I thought we were finished. I thought we had caught our limit and I knew we were where we wanted to spend the rest of our lives. Of course, fate is funny and now we also own a historic Airbnb in Pensacola. Who would have ever guessed?

We spent 20 years being moved around by the Navy, but were never stationed in Pensacola. Jerry wasn’t associated with the aviation side of things and that is the largest group here in Pensacola. We hadn’t even vacationed here on the pristine beaches. But when we were approached about teaching at the university here, we decided to take a closer look at the Pensacola area. What we found was a town full of charm. History, great restaurants, and a lot of Navy made this a great location for us.

So great, in fact, that we believed others would enjoy it as well.

We decided to purchase a home here for the times we needed to be in the area and to defray the cost by offering it as an Airbnb and VRBO property. If you know us at all, you know that we prefer historic homes. That remained true when we shopped for houses in Pensacola. We looked at over fifty homes. We looked at beach cottages, condos, new construction, and historic homes. Not surprisingly, the historic home won.

Adding Charm and Character…

The Pensacola house (named Florida House by our granddaughter) is a four-bedroom, 2.5 bath home. It has many of the original features, but it had no furniture, of course. This was the first and only time that I was able to go out and purchase a house-full of furniture at one time. It was fun, but it was a bit daunting.

We did have antiques already that would have looked great in the Pensacola house. However, there was no way we were going to rob our historic home in Texas of family antiques. Luckily, we found the majority of our antique furnishings at a very timely estate sale. In fact, we were driving home from DFW after purchasing the house and I was on my phone bidding on the pieces we wanted. We truly furnished this house going 80mph on I-35. Life in the fast lane, indeed!

While this is our home-away-from-home, it is also someone’s vacation home. Vacations are fun and Pensacola is a beach town. The house isn’t really a beach house. It is a historic property (complete with marker!). As such, we felt that we needed to make decisions that 1.) provided us with a practical place to work, 2.) provide Airbnb guests with a vacation space, and 3.) honor the historical aspect of the house.

The rooms are charming and bright…just perfect for a vacation home, but still elegant and a little bit grand, as the house required. Airbnb guests have a private suite with a separate entrance and kitchenette (micro!).

You can access the listings to see more photos using these links:

Airbnb: https://airbnb.com/h/victorian-charmer-in-north-hill

VRBO: https://www.vrbo.com/2641561?adultsCount=10&unitId=3212172

The Henry White House: Historic North Hill, Pensacola

The house is a cute 1892 home built in the historic North Hill District of Pensacola by Henry White. It is within easy walking distance of downtown shops and restaurants, which is one of the things we loved about it. The other thing we loved about it was the charm that remained. The house still has original hardwood floors, amazing fireplaces and crown molding. While this staircase if very different from the one in Texas, it still takes my breath away (and is much easier to slide down).