12/29/2010
The Beaumont Inn has two distinctions – it is the oldest family-run inn in Kentucky and it rests in the oldest town west of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite its famous reputation (Franklin Roosevelt slept here) it’s not very pricey, especially in the – you guessed it – winter months… on a Wednesday. So we figured if it was good enough for Eleanor it was good enough for us and decided to stay the night.
We were now deep enough into Kentucky we were definitely in the official South. We were now “sugah” and “ya’ll” to everyone. And the Beaumont certainly has the Tara thing going for it. The inside is chock full of nineteenth century furniture. A few of the pieces have “Do not touch” signs, but for the most part the furniture is for the use of the guests. My favorite area was the front desk/library with original books from the inn’s early days as a girls’ school. If you’re ever there check out where some girls had scratched their names into one of the windows when the teachers weren’t around.
Our room was very nice, with a few wrinkles that would probably make us mad in a more modern hotel. The bathroom door wouldn’t close properly and one of the bedside lamps kept randomly going out. There also weren’t any extra plugs anywhere in the room, so if someone needed an outlet they’d be out of luck. No soap in the bathroom either. The ambience of the building and the friendly staff offset a lot of this though. It was obvious that a lot of love went into preserving this place despite a few little mistakes.
Anyway, the food: I had a Hot Brown and a slice of Derby pie. KEEEEEEEEEEEN-TUCKY! Laura had a hamburger and spent the night battling food poisoning. Uh oh. Not what you’d expect at a place like this.
A stay at the Beaumont comes with a sit-down breakfast. We had better luck with this meal. This food was actually prepared in the hotel kitchen this time and was excellent. Their specialty is hot cakes. Sounds boring, but they really were the best pancakes we’ve ever eaten.
No comments:
Post a Comment