Lynn and Ron Carlson purchased the inn on April 1st of 1997. We opened the inn on May 1st of 1997 with the previous owner's furniture. We brought our furniture into the inn in June of 1997, opening the inn again on Friday, the 13th of June. In spite of these auspicious dates, we are now celebrating 11 years at the inn as owners/innkeepers.
When we purchased the inn it had four guest rooms on the second floor. In the last half of 2000, we created Zelda's Retreat, our 1000 sq ft third floor suite, and reclaimed the basement "Grotto Suite" for owner's quarters.
The carriage house, Griffin Cottage, to the rear of the property was built in 2004, opening up the Spring of 2005. Designed by Robert Griffin of RS Griffin Architects, PA, the carriage house is an "informal" version of the main inn. It combines many of the architectural details of the main house, which was designed by Richard Sharp Smith, Supervising Architect for the Biltmore House, together with numerous luxury features to make your stay an unforgettable memory!
Starting life in Minnesota, we moved to Bloomfield, CT in 1969. From there we ventured to England in early 1974, living in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. In the Summer of 1985 we repatriated to the Main Line of Philadelphia, living in Rosemont, PA.
Lynn is past President of NCBBI, the North Carolina Bed and Breakfast & Inns Association, having served three years as President and seven years on the Board. She has just finished a three year term on the board of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce.
Allie Cat is our resident feline innkeeper. She came to us from a rescue outside of Atlanta in 2002. As the pictures above show, she plays an active part in the operation of the Inn! She is also very inquisitive. Madison, our "stationary" dog in the back yard has her puzzled. And, she is not going to have any other cats in the house.
Allie doesn't appreciate large groups or music, but she is a great "one on one" cat who loves to be petted. She spends most of her time "on the wrong side of the door", so if she wants to come in or out of the Inn, by all means, please oblige her. She is not, however, allowed in the guest rooms; in spite of what she might think!
