Sunbright Manor (Sunbright Inn)

Merchant James T. Sherman and his wife Abigail built this three-story Victorian home over four years starting in 1886, inspired by the Chautauqua cultural movement that shaped DeFuniak Springs and today the oldest house in Walton County; its sweeping verandas and octagonal turret make it one of the county's most recognizable buildings. The home gained wider notoriety in 1924, when Florida governor Sydney J. Catts — a lawyer and Baptist preacher who served 1917 to 1921 — bought it and installed the county's first indoor plumbing, living there with his wife Alice until his death in 1936. After extensive 2023 renovations, it reopened as the boutique Sunbright Inn, and the manor has a reputation as one of DeFuniak Springs' most haunted buildings: doors open and close on their own, and a woman with long black hair in a white gown has long been reported in an upstairs window.