Last October, Quincy's History, Mystery and Ghost Tour stood over the unmarked grave of Governor A.K. Allison in Western Cemetery. This Friday night the tour moves downtown, into the same historic district where the house Allison built in 1843 still stands on North Madison Street. Quincy Main Street and Quincy Music Theatre now run the event after dark on Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31, starting at the theater on East Washington Street.
Moving the tour changes more than the starting point. The cemetery tour drew on the people buried there. The downtown tour walks past buildings with dates, architects, fires and fortunes on the record, and that record is stranger than most of the ghost stories told about the same places.
What Changed Between the 2025 and 2026 Tours
The cemetery tour was billed as the "Second Annual." In its third year the event has a new location, a later start and a happy hour.
| 2025 tour | 2026 tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Western Cemetery, 631 W. Sharon St. | Downtown Quincy, starting at Quincy Music Theatre, 118 E. Washington St. |
| Dates | Saturday, Oct. 25 and Sunday, Oct. 26 | Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31 |
| Start times | 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. |
| Price | $13 plus a $2 processing fee | $15 per person |
| Extras | Limited seating along the route | Happy hour and registration one hour before each tour |
Last year's Saturday 6:00 p.m. tour sold out. This year each tour is capped at 80 guests, and Quincy Main Street recommends buying ahead through the Quincy Music Theatre ticket page. Check the time printed on your ticket for the late Friday tour. The Quincy Main Street event page lists it at 8:15 p.m., but the ticketing page shows 8:00 p.m. for Friday and 8:15 p.m. for Saturday.
Get there early for the happy hour. Souvenir cups come with one serving of the event's Witches' Brew, made in alcoholic and nonalcoholic versions, and refills are $6. Organizers call the walk family-friendly, so a Halloween-night group with kids fits.
The Starting Point Has Its Own History
The tour starts at Quincy Music Theatre, a building that has been part of downtown since 1949. According to Quincy Main Street's downtown walking tour booklet, it opened as the Leaf Theatre, a movie house designed by Prentiss Huddleston & Associates for Nat Williams. It was named for the cigar-wrapper tobacco that once defined this part of Gadsden County.
The Leaf closed in 1980. In 1983 three benefactors bought it and gave it to Quincy Music Theatre, which explains how a small town ended up with a community theater in a mid-century movie house. The booklet also points out the separate balcony entrance once used by Black moviegoers, and it describes that entrance as a reminder of segregation. Many people walk past that door on the way to a show without knowing what it was for.
A Timeline Within a Few Blocks
Quincy Main Street hasn't published the 2026 route or its stops, so any guess at the guide's exact path is only a guess. What's certain is which buildings stand on the streets around the square, and the walking tour booklet dates each one. Listed in order, they show downtown being built and rebuilt across a century:
- 1843, the Allison house, North Madison Street. Governor Abraham Kurkindolle Allison built the two-story house. It was significantly altered in 1925, became a bed-and-breakfast in the 1960s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's now The Millhouse Inn.
- 1849, the courthouse fire. The courthouse finished in 1837 burned in 1849 and took many county records with it. A State Archives of Florida record shows a replacement built around 1850 that stood until 1912.
- 1893, Quincy State Bank and Opera House, 22 E. Washington St. Banking offices took the first floor, and performances filled the opera house upstairs.
- 1910, the Empire Theatre, 112 E. Jefferson St. The Quincy Fire Department built it as an opera house, and people later knew it as Fireman's Hall and then the Empire Theatre. It was eventually absorbed into the Bell and Bates Home Center.
- 1912, the Bell and Bates building, 13 N. Madison St. It housed the county's oldest locally owned hardware business. The family donated the building to Gadsden Arts, and the museum opened there in September 2000.
- 1913, Gadsden County Courthouse, 10 E. Jefferson St. This is the fifth courthouse since 1824 and the fourth on a site the county has used for government since 1827.
- 1949, the Leaf Theatre, 118 E. Washington St. The tour's starting point.
Put in order, the dates show a pattern. Quincy built a hall for performances at least three times within about half a century: the opera house above the bank in 1893, the firemen's opera house in 1910 and the Leaf in 1949. The tour starts in the newest of the three.
The Money Story on the Corner
The best-known Quincy story is about money, and it's painted on a wall downtown. In 2020, WTXL reported on the restored Coca-Cola mural on the old Padgett Jewelry store at East Jefferson and Madison. The station reported that banker Pat Munroe persuaded more than 60 Quincy neighbors to invest in Coca-Cola in the 1920s. The walking tour booklet also tells the story of "Mr. Pat" Munroe's stock advice. The mural is at East Jefferson and Madison, where the courthouse's East Jefferson Street address meets the Bell and Bates building's North Madison Street address.
Where the Ghost Stories Actually Come From
The documented history comes from a booklet, a state archive and a TV station. The ghost stories rest on much less. The directory site Haunted Places describes the Leaf's ghosts as friendly. A commenter there reports shadows, sounds and unease upstairs near the boys' dressing room, and another passes along a claim that a former projectionist still haunts the building. The site says its stories are user-submitted and makes no claim that they are factual.
The same directory repeats a claim that orbs show up in photos taken at the old Allison House Inn and that children are especially attuned to spirits there. Its page also notes that nobody has submitted a firsthand experience for the location. No local news coverage attaches a haunting to the courthouse, the bank building or the Gadsden Arts building.
That leaves a lot of the night to history. The square has been used for government and trade since 1827, according to Visit Gadsden County. A fire destroyed the county's early records, a governor's house became an inn, and a banker's stock tip is painted on a wall. With material like that, a guide doesn't need much folklore to keep 80 people interested in the dark.
The Daylight Half of the Weekend
The Bell and Bates building is open in daylight too. Gadsden Arts Center & Museum at 13 N. Madison St. lists Friday and Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Exhibition admission is $5 for nonmember adults and $3 for students, and it's free for members and anyone 17 and under. Its regular schedule has the museum open on both tour days, but there's no date-specific notice for Halloween weekend, so check before you go.
The headline show right now is "America's Everglades: Through the Lens of Clyde Butcher," which runs through December 12. Joel Thornton's "Joel's Journey: A Life Rendered in Oil" and "Art and our Environment" also run through December 12, and the Gadsden Arts Artists Guild exhibition closes December 5. The museum earned national reaccreditation this fall, the Gadsden County Times reported on September 10. An afternoon in the 1912 hardware store followed by the 7:00 p.m. tour makes a full Saturday without leaving downtown.
What's Next on the Downtown Calendar
The ghost tour opens a busy stretch for downtown. Quincy Main Street's calendar lists these dates:
- Thursday, Nov. 5: Fall Cocktail Party Benefit Event
- Thursday, Dec. 3: Holiday Hob Nob, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: Holiday Tour of Homes, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: Festive Family Day at Gadsden Arts, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., free, with youth-led holiday crafts and a gallery treasure hunt
Venues, ticket prices and the list of homes for the December events haven't been posted on the Quincy Main Street calendar yet. The December 5 tour of homes and the Festive Family Day overlap from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., so families can plan to do both in one downtown visit.
Downtown Quincy's history is one of the reasons I love working here, and I'd be glad to talk about any of these blocks, from the Leaf to the courthouse square. If you own a home near the historic district and wonder what it's worth today, I'm happy to help. Tally Home Search can get you started. Get your free home valuation.
