Weddings at Harbour Island's "haunted house"

We love to turn the graceful ruins of the old Stewart mansion into a fairytale garden of 1,000 candles for evening weddings. The ruins sit on the grounds of Harbour Island Marina.

Is it Haunted?

But is this formerly imposing mansion really haunted?

The legend started in the 1940s when a wealthy family brought butlers and maids and a grand lifestyle to an estate that stretched from sea to bay.  The big house was indeed majestic, but the owner left for emergency medical tests and never returned.  The story is that the table was sumptuously set with dinner when the entire family vanished.  Echoes of the Marie Celeste.

The house lay fallow, mysteriously immune to looting, maintaining its former air of majesty.  In the 60s, a Greek shipping magnate bought the entire estate for $1 million as a wedding gift for his bride.  She spent 30 minutes in it, sensed something, left, and never returned.

In the 70s, legends of former residents haunting the halls grew.  The spooky winds and creaky old floors must have added to the atmosphere.  Soon, jet-setters began taking over the house as a temporary party house, especially on New Year’s Eve.  And the legends grew.

The 80s brought looters and a fire.  It has lain derelict, overgrown, and unattended ever since.  Today, you’ll have to use some imagination as you view the hollow shell.   Listen and imagine.  Is it haunted?  You be the judge.

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