Brunswick Manor and Goodbye Lie Diaries

Brunswick Manor, Brunswick, Georgia

Welcoming Front Door 

My husband, Bruce, and I love a bed and breakfast. It was our anniversary and with little time to getaway, I googled bed and breakfasts near Amelia Island, Florida.  I found Brunswick Manor in Brunswick, Georgia, just an hour's drive.  I read somewhere that Angelina Jolie and Jerry Seinfeld have stayed there.  I can see why.  It is simply a magnificent structure.

Major Columbia Downing from Downingston, Ohio, built this mansion in 1886.  This is  my favorite time period in history, as proven by the settings, 1882 to 1898, in my Goodbye Lie series of historical novels.  Owner of a naval store in Brunswick, he was also a bank president. After a long history of the house being a private residence, then a multiple dwelling, according to the brochure, in 1989, it eventually became the renowned bed and breakfast it is today.
 

Front Veranda

Welcome Hall

A Creative Mix

Oh, how I love decorative hinges. - jmm

 

I saw this worn spot in the corner of the carpet in the game room.  I got to wondering why it was worn only in this spot.  Had something been spilled, and the housekeeper scrubbed a bare spot? What traffic pattern would have cause it? Perhaps it had once been in the dining room, the center protected by a huge table.  Maybe this spot was where the servants repeatedly crossed to and fro from the kitchen as they presented daily delicacies to the owners. Maybe ...

Along one wall in the hall, these treasures are found, saved from a Catholic Church that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Could this be one of those paintings done by a traveling painter? The body of a little boy is already on the canvas and all the artist has to do is paint the head of the actual child.

A Delightful Breakfast

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The Goodbye Lie Diaries

1889
Fernandina, Florida

Michael Dunnigan, patriarch, writes:

Michael Dunnigan

   I have read your story about what they are calling Brunswick Manor, in your time, and am enjoying all your pretty colored pictures. I wanted to tell you that Miss Ella and I have been to that house, sat on that porch and ate dinner at that very table. Major Downing and I have dealings with regard to his naval store and my Aqua Verde Passenger line and ship building business.  My brother-in-law, Clabe Duffy, has, likewise, worked with Major Downing, in his banking pursuits. 
   As my blessed mother told me, it is best never to speak ill of anyone, especially in small towns like Fernandina and Brunswick, lest it queer your friendship as well as potential business.  Now if my sister, Noreen, she's Clabe's wife, could just remember that. I witnessed her less than gracious remark about Mrs. Downing's  embroidery having too many  knots on the back, the only time the Downings came to our Amelia Island and we all dined at Duffy Place. I am very happy to say the Major and his Mrs. have not held my sister's shortcomings against me and have invited Miss Ella and me back up to Brunswick.  He is a fair man.

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Michael Dunnigan is the father to four grown children, each of whom is featured in The Goodbye Lie historical trilogy set on Amelia Island, Florida in the 1880s. Through the magic of electronics, The Goodbye Lie Diaries, scattered throughout this blog, allow the characters to interact with Jane Marie, the author, and she with them. This way, between epic novels, readers may catch a glimpse of their friends, the colorful players in the books.

To learn more about Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie series, peruse this blog and click on this link to purchase e-books and paperbacks: Purchase The Goodbye Lie series HERE
 
For more info on Brunswick Manor, visit their 
website: Brunswick Manor