St. Augustine Heritage Book Festival

St. Augustine Book Festival

The Ximenez-Fatio House Museum hosts a book festival from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on September 19, 2026. Local authors whose works celebrate St. Augustine's stories, history, and poetry present their books. You can meet the authors, purchase their books, and ask them to sign your copy. 

In celebration of the spirit of St. Augustine, the book festival features a wide range of books in the fiction, narrative non-fiction, history, and poetry genres. 

Event Details

Admission: The book festival is free. Self-guided museum tours are available at regular prices from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The last tour starts no later than 4:00 p.m.

When: Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

Where: The Ximenez-Fatio House and Museum, 20 Aviles Street, St. Augustine, Florida 32084

The Ximenez-Fatio House Museum

Built in 1798 during St. Augustine’s Second Spanish Period, this coquina stone house has witnessed more than 225 years of Florida history. Don Andres Ximenez (a merchant from Spain) was its first owner, having built it for his family.

After Florida became a territory of the United States, the house was owned by a series of women who operated the property as a boarding house hotel. Three of these female managers were widowed, while the most prominent, Louisa Fatio, remained single.

In 1939, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida (NSCDA-FL) purchased the derelict house. They hired the best preservationists to ensure it was as historically accurate as possible to the Boarding House Period (1830s - 1880s) and ultimately named their newly opened museum "The Ximenez-Fatio House"—Ximenez for the man who built the house and Fatio for Louisa Fatio, the house's last historic owner.