Located about 3.5 hours from Miami in Lake Mary, and just north of Orlando, the Stetson Mansion is a wonderful 19th century Gilded Age Estate that is definitely worth visiting. For the past 13 years, JT Thompson and Michael Solari have opened their home for Christmas tours. JT decorates the house for the holidays, and it takes him about 3 months to do!
The Christmas Spectacular Tour takes you from one lavishly decorated room to another. Every room has a theme and all are spectacular. This year we particularly loved the Peacock themed room and the Winter Wonderland décor.
About the Stetson Mansion
The Stetson Mansion was one of Florida’s first luxury homes, and the grandest ever built in the 19th century. John B. Stetson (of Stetson hat fame!) had the property built in 1886 as a winter retreat. At present it has been carefully restored with a meticulous project started in 2005 by the current owners JT and Michael. The mansion is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The house was designed by George T. Pearson, a famous architect of the era, in a Victorian style. At the time it also included some modernities such as hot and cold running water, steam heat, and a call bell system. The later was used to call the servants to a specific room when a family member needed something.
The interior has some beautiful and elaborate carvings, intricate parquet floors and over 10,000 panes of the original leaded glass windows that were put in when the estate was built.
This place was so famous, Henry Flagler actually built a private railway track to the Stetson Estate so that the building materials could be brought in.
During the guided tour we also learned that the Stetsons were kind people, and they treated their employees well. John B. Stetson even allowed the workers children to attend school alongside his own in the adjacent schoolhouse.
Do take time to wander out to Sophie’s Garden next to the old schoolhouse. The latter is now turned into a gift shop.
Good to know:
- The Christmas Spectacular Tours are offered from November to mid-January.
- There are guided tours and self-guided ones with an audio tour.
- Because it’s a private home, no photography or videography is allowed inside the mansion.
- There is parking on-site but if full you can park at the Church of Christ across the street.
JT Thompson and Michael Solari sold the Stetson Mansion, so this was the last year that JT decorated the house for Christmas. But the new owners are planning to continue the tradition and to also open the mansion’s 3 floors for historic tours starting in February until May. This would surely be interesting in order to see the rich architectural details and décor inside the historic home.
Overall
We are glad we finally made it to the Stetson Mansion! Seeing all the beautiful Christmas decorations was a feast for the eyes! The history tour will certainly be interesting and informative too.
We had a free night at the Hyatt from our affinity credit card and decided to use it at the Lake Mary Hyatt which was about a 30-45-minute drive from the Stetson Mansion. The hotel was well appointed and had everything we needed for our weekender trip.
Before driving home to South Florida, we went to the nearby Blue Spring State Park. This park is famous for the manatees that congregate there during the winter months. We also did one of their nature tour boat rides to see some Florida wildlife. Read more about this in our post about our experience at the Blue Springs State Park (coming soon).