If you're walking Centre Street in downtown Fernandina Beach, the Palace Saloon is the bar at 117 Centre Street with the 40-foot mahogany bar running down one side of the room. It's been serving drinks on that bar since 1903, which makes it Florida's oldest continuously-operating drinking establishment, and the fixture itself was hand-carved when Louis G. Hirth converted the building (originally an 1878 haberdashery) into a saloon.
The historical arc of the place runs through the whole first half of the twentieth century. The Palace was the last bar in Florida to close on the eve of Prohibition and stayed open through the dry years by selling gasoline, ice cream, and near-beer out of the same address. In its earlier decades, the Vanderbilts, DuPonts, and Carnegies drank here when they were staying on the island.
Today it operates as a working bar with pub fare, live entertainment on a regular schedule, and the same room that's been hosting drinkers for over 120 years. The decor is original where original survives, and the bar itself is the centerpiece.
The address and historic footprint put the Palace near the middle of a Centre Street evening. It reads as casual and social rather than special-occasion, which is the right register for a bar of its type.
For current live-music schedule, kitchen hours, and any private-event availability, thepalacesaloon.com is the source to check. Phone is (844) 441-2444. The Palace is as much an attraction as a restaurant, and it anchors a lot of first-visit walks through downtown. For visitors planning a historical-circuit day, the annual events calendar lines up the weekends when downtown itself is at its most active.