diff --git a/lib/jekyll/commands/serve/servlet.rb b/lib/jekyll/commands/serve/servlet.rb
index cc6d958f..fa376f61 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/commands/serve/servlet.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/commands/serve/servlet.rb
@@ -4,52 +4,55 @@ module Jekyll
   module Commands
     class Serve
       class Servlet < WEBrick::HTTPServlet::FileHandler
-        HEADER_DEFAULTS = {}
+        DEFAULTS = {
+          "Cache-Control" => "private, max-age=0, proxy-revalidate, " \
+            "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate"
+        }
 
         def initialize(server, root, callbacks)
-          extract_headers(server.config[:JekyllOptions])
+          # So we can access them easily.
+          @jekyll_opts = server.config[:JekyllOptions]
+          set_defaults
           super
         end
 
+        # Add the ability to tap file.html the same way that Nginx does on our
+        # Docker images (or on Github pages.) The difference is that we might end
+        # up with a different preference on which comes first.
+
+        def search_file(req, res, basename)
+          # /file.* > /file/index.html > /file.html
+          super || super(req, res, "#{basename}.html")
+        end
+
         #
 
         def do_GET(req, res)
-          res.header.merge!(@headers) if @headers.any?
-          return super
+          rtn = super
+          validate_and_ensure_charset(req, res)
+          res.header.merge!(@headers)
+          rtn
         end
 
-        # file > file/index.html > file.html > directory -> Having a directory
-        # with the same name as a file will result in the file being served the way
-        # that Nginx behaves (probably not exactly...) For browsing.
+        #
 
-        def search_file(req, res, basename)
-          file = super || super(req, res, "#{basename}.html")
+        private
+        def validate_and_ensure_charset(req, res)
+          key = res.header.keys.grep(/content-type/i).first
+          typ = res.header[key]
 
-          return file if file
-          file = "#{req.path.gsub(/\/\Z/, "")}.html"
-          if file && File.file?(File.join(@config[:DocumentRoot], file))
-            return ".html"
-          end
-
-          nil
-        end
-
-        def extract_headers(opts)
-          @headers = add_defaults(opts.fetch("webrick", {}).fetch("headers", {
-            # Nothing.
-          }))
-        end
-
-        def add_defaults(opts)
-          control_development_cache(opts)
-          HEADER_DEFAULTS.each_with_object(opts) do |(k, v), h|
-            h[k] = v if !h[k]
+          unless typ =~ /;\s*charset=/
+            res.header[key] = "#{typ}; charset=#{@jekyll_opts["encoding"]}"
           end
         end
 
-        def control_development_cache(opts)
-          if !opts.has_key?("Cache-Control") && Jekyll.env == "development"
-            opts["Cache-Control"] = "private, max-age=0, proxy-revalidate, no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate"
+        #
+
+        private
+        def set_defaults
+          hash_ = @jekyll_opts.fetch("webrick", {}).fetch("headers", {})
+          DEFAULTS.each_with_object(@headers = hash_) do |(key, val), hash|
+            hash[key] = val if !hash.key?(key)
           end
         end
       end