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Today's Photo
Watauga Lake
A great vacation is just a short trip away. .. so close
and yet, so far!
Come enjoy it.
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About Us and About the Inn
Built in 1889 of hand-made brick, this house is a Victorian shingle-style home which looks very northern. Its builder, Major Joseph Wagner, served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He had mercantile and mining interests in the post-war era.
 The Rambo family bought the house in 1910 and updated it with electricity, plumbing and central heat on the first floor. In August 1991, the third generation of Rambo's sold it to the Cornetts, who in turn sold it to Robert and Judy Hotchkiss of Atlanta.
The couple bought the house because its commanding presence on a hill makes it look like it should be a B&B.
 Judy and Robert Hotchkiss have been renovators since one day in 1972 when they repainted door trim in an old house they rented in the Seattle area. Since then they have revived a series of turn-of-the-century homes in the Atlanta area, but nothing as daunting as a 6,000 square-foot shingle style Victorian located in a small town in rural Northeast Tennessee.
Robert holds a physics degree from Georgia Tech and a law degree from Emory University. He also trained in nuclear submarines. Judy holds a journalism degree and is an avid student of renovation and gardening.
After another massive updating and renovation to the house after Robert & Judy purchased it, the building was ready to become Prospect Hill B&B Inn, named for Major Wagner's mining interests in the area.
Five bedrooms and a two-room family parlor were turned into five guest bedrooms with modern baths. The somewhat finished attic was converted to private space for the owners.
All systems such as plumbing and electrical are new. Central heat and air conditioning was installed on the second and third floors for the first time. Eventually, all the hardwood floors will be lightly sanded and re-varnished. All the moldings in the public rooms were stripped of six coats of paint. Five guest rooms are now available for your visit.
See below for resident pets.
Recognitions
Reviews
Travel Virginia/Ghost stories, 2009
USA Today - Sleep with a Ghost, October, 2003
Blue Ridge Country 2006
Four Points Magazine
(Atlanta, 2005)
Fresh Outlook Magazine 2005
Tennessee Magazine
(selected B&Bs, 2005)
Best Southern Inn 2004
by Arrington’s B&B journal
Some Things Go Bump in the Night,
Deborah L. Davis, 2010
The Marble and Other Ghost Tales of Tennessee and Virginia by Joe Tennis - 22 to-the-point ghost tales showing how rich the culture of the Appalachian mountains can be. Many pictures and lots of history. (2008)
Most Romantic Hideaway 2003 Arrington’s B&B Journal by guest vote
Appalachian Life (2002)
Old-House Journal - 2001, featured B&B
Marquis Magazine - Autumn, 2000
CNN Online, 2000
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Unique Architecture, Features, Site Inside & Out
Each room has something different: a private balcony (Room 5), private entrance (Room 1), whirlpool tub for two (Rooms 1, 2, and 4), use of the upstairs porch which is lighted by twinkle lights at night, stained glass, bathroom wallpaper, fireplaces in the room and/or bath, and one-of-a-kind decorating.
Your room may have a high ceiling, a low ceiling, or a vaulted ceiling. Each room has a piece of original art created by Judy's artist friends in Atlanta.
Rooms have individual climate control and soundproofing. All rooms have ceiling fans, reading lights, clock radios/CD players, (many with iPod docks), door locks, in-room cable TV, bathrobes for your use and scented candles.
Bubble bath is provided for the whirlpool tubs. Breakfast is included with all rooms, unless otherwise indicated.
All rooms are upstairs with the exception of Romance Room (Room 1). We have a new dumb waiter which will carry your luggage upstairs and down for you. Be sure to give The Dummy a try while here!
Breakfast
We serve a full breakfast which begins with fresh fruit, juice and coffee/tea followed by hearty main course, such as Elegant Scrambled Eggs, Stuffed French Toast, Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes or or Herbed Baked Eggs with a side of  bacon or sausage.
We focus on a breakfast which is nice to look at and even better to eat.
Guests often linger, sharing a last cup of coffee. The entrée is different daily.
If you have special dietary needs, please let us know when you make your reservation.
We serve our breakfast meat on the side and have a vegetarian breakfast "meat" selection available.
Continental breakfasts are available to business travelers and those needing an early start to their day.
Breakfast time is generally 8:30-10 a.m. or by arrangement with the innkeeper. Early continental/self catered breakfast can be arranged. (This is popular with our business guests.) 
Cranberry Stuffed French Toast
Judy's photos published in a book
By Christine V. Marr and Sharon Foster Jones.
Review by Catherine Fox, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NONFICTION
Inman Park
The neighborhood has suffered its share of travails. Dark years followed its heyday, 1890 to 1910, when |
wealthy residents decamped for Druid Hills and later left Atlanta altogether. And the area endured three battles of Atlanta: Built on the ruins of Civil War plantations, it narrowly avoided being plowed under for a 6-lane expressway in the early ’60s,and its residents spent the ’80s fighting Freedom Parkway. ....
Christine V. Marr and Sharon Foster Jones chronicle its up and downs in “Inman Park” (Arcadia Publishing, $19.99. 126 pages), a book that features more than 200 intelligently annotated vintage photos as well as an informative essay and chapter introductions that provide context.
The book belongs to the South Carolina publisher’s national series “Images of America,” which includes profiles of a number of metro Atlanta towns and neighborhoods, including College Park, Marietta and Druid Hills. And now Inman Park. With some photos (c.1978-1995) by Judy Hotchkiss, a 19 year resident of Inman Park and now from Mountain City, TN
Available from www.barnesandnoble.com |
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Make It Green - Inn's Recycling Program
Beginning with our first inn in Atlanta in 1992, we've recycled items generated by our inn. In a city that is easy. Here in a small rural town, the town struggles to provide recycling services. As a result, some plastic and all paper is recycled here; other items are carried 28 miles to a recycling company in North Carolina. You can help in that effort by placing your recyclables in the white paper bags provided in your guest room. All items need to be emptied or clean, and dry. |
The specifics
We felt the little plastic shampoo bottles produced too much waste at our first inn so we installed wall mounted shampoo and cream rinse dispensers. We buy the products in bulk from Greenwich Bay Co, Raleigh, NC, a supplier to inns around the country. Hand washing soap is also via pump bottles in the guest rooms. These are refilled as needed. Bar soap is provided as well.
Our heating and cooling system has individual thermostats in each room as well as ceiling fans and gas log or electric log sets. This enables guests to choose their own room temperatures and allows us to lighten the system demand in rooms not in use. (Unrented rooms are kept at 80 degrees in summer and 58 in winter, for example. Hall doors are closed to balance the system.)
Our party room's air condition system has a booster system which steps up the capacity of the system ONLY WHEN NEEDED; the rest of the time it is not running. We use primarily heat pumps because the cost of electricity (generated by a dam on nearby Watauga Lake) Is the least expensive and cleanest way to heat and cool our 7500 sq .ft. inn.
Any new construction we have done includes well-insulated windows and walls as well as south-facing space with heat-sink floors for winter heat retention (tile over concrete) and provision for shading those windows in summer. The main part of the house still awaits custom storm windows.
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Our Pets
 
Tiger Lily's BLOG Big Head 2002-2009 "He never missed a party."
We were dog people for a long time. Right now we do not have a dog! But we do have a cat who stays primarily in our quarters.
If you are a true cat person, Tiger Lily, will find you and love on you. She will leave you alone when you say the word by swinging your foot. Primarily she leads a cat's life which rarely includes being touched. Our rooms are very clean and doors are kept closed at all times. However, IF you prefer, ask us to do a last "minute" extra vacuuming and addition of an air filter machine "just in case." The machine also makes a great white noise machine as needed.
Our Schools
App State is our "neighbor" although we have not been students, my sister/brother-in-law hold 4 degrees from ASU. |
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