Chancey Hill Inn Bed & Breakfast
Innkeeper(s):
Dale & John Harmons
V2WW3 31 May 2012, 2:40 pm
We've held them when monsoon rains fell and we've held them when Mother Nature smiled her prettiest. Our Vine to Wine Weekends have been fun. Plain and simple. Our partners in wine, Crane Creek Vineyards, friends Joe and Liz, and of course our beloved neighbors LOLA have helped make the fun happen. And the guests have all been premo. Everybody, including John and me, has gathered for a good time and that's what we've had.Nothing less is expected for the upcoming V2WW3 slated for June 22-24. We're keeping our Friday night wine pairing under wraps. The element of surprise, don't you know.
Dale
VINE TO WINE WEEKEND 3 28 May 2012, 6:42 am
Our Vine to Wine Weekend is approaching, June 22-24. We'll again have a wine pairing on Friday evening, featuring wines from Crane Creek Vineyards and delicious food items.After breakfast on Saturday we're off to Crane Creek for a private winery tour and tasting. Many folks that attended our earlier V2WW events have lingered after the tour to enjoy the wonderful setting and great hospitality at the vineyard.
Saturday evening brings the main event, wine making. Our experienced wine maker Joe and his lovely wife Liz will host an informative and lively session. We'll start a new batch of wine, break for a tasting of locally produced wines, and then bottle, cork, seal and label wines that we started last year. You'll get the opportunity to make your contribution to the bottling process.
Please mention V2WW3 when you book your stay with us at http://www.chanceyhillinn.com/, or call for reservations. We look forward to sharing this wonderful experience with you.
John
Chancey Hill Inn Bed & Breakfast
Hiawassee. GA 30546
706-896-8424
MEMORIAL DAY BAYOU DINNER 17 Apr 2012, 11:37 am
Alas, my work as an innkeeper is brutal. Our friend Ed is coming to trial-run his Memorial Day Bayou Dinner for John and me and a few of our close friends. We simply must taste his delicious Louisiana fare, which includes jambalaya, gumbo, Cajun bean salad, cole slaw, and a few other Pontchatrain delights. Like the old saying goes, "It's tough, but somebody has to do it." Yum, I mean oh woe.Our Memorial Day Bayou Dinner will be on Sunday, May 27, and will be included for guests with a three-night stay. We'll need to fill three rooms to make this dinner happen. This too is the American way. (Note to special relative - no, profit is not a dirty word.)
Dale
Upcoming V2WW3 12 Apr 2012, 10:21 am
We anxiously await our third V2WW ( May 4-6 ). Three rooms were snapped up within thirty minutes of the event's announcement. Though John and I have lived in and enjoyed many places, we've always considered our birth state of Georgia home. Instead of the dessert and wine pairing we've done for the previous Vine To Wines, our Friday evening Guest Reception will feature a variety of North Georgia wines and sweet and savory recipes from the many products of the great state of Georgia. The wines and foods will be paired to enhance and compliment each other with the help of some vintners, chefs, and oenophiles that we know. ( We have such clever, generous friends.) One of my favorite places on earth, Crane Creek Vineyards, will again share their harvest and knowledge with our lucky guests by presenting them with a private tour on Saturday. The lovely Lake Chatuge home of our dear friends will be the back drop for the wine making, tasting, bottling, tasting, nibbles and did I mention tasting, on Saturday evening. Good friends, good wine, good food, good time. Join us. Two rooms available. Visit our web site for details and pictures of V2WW2.The Four Deuces Drew Aces 29 Mar 2012, 12:39 pm
Our first Murder Mystery was simply killer. (If puns are the lowest form of humor then I am base.) Chancey Hill Inn Bed and Breakfast was transformed into The Four Deuces Speak Easy of the 1920s, complete with tray wielding cigarette girl and garter-sleeved bouncer/bartender. The pass-phrase for admittance was given at the last minute with the warning to "speak easy; the law may be listening." Modern allowances were used to make a music play list which brought Duke Ellington, the Gershwins, and Bessie Smith and others to our soiree. Take a look at the pictures to get the story of the guests for this Grand Opening. With fringe and feathers, fedoras and broad shoulders, this was quite a "gang". A champagne toast hailed the event with clinks and winks. Although a slight murder was committed shortly before dinner, no one's appetite seemed to suffer. From tenderloin and accompaniments to Black Bottom Pie for dessert, only alligator tears were shed for the dearly departed. The whole evening was a blast. If PartyFunsters.Com had assembled this group, most of whom were strangers to each other before Friday night, it could not have been a more congenial crowd. We all meshed together like a gun in a holster to create a time this innkeeper enjoyed and will not soon forget. It was so much fun that after dinner and the solving of the mystery, we all danced. Thank goodness for the iPod. The play list was changed as few of us knew how to Charleston or Black Bottom. This was the real Cat's Meow. Thanks to all who were here. You made the opening of The Four Deuces truly grand.
What's All The Flap About 6 Feb 2012, 7:41 am
Hiawassee Gazette Editorial
A rebellion never before seen in the youth of our country has spawned a culture of brash young women known as Flappers. The origin of the term Flapper has many speculations. Some say it refers to a young bird flapping it's wings before learning to fly. Others insist it's the flapping of the braid on the backs of girls too young to wear their hair up. Whatever the root of the word, this reporter blames the sweeping degradation of our young women on the unrelenting influence of France and to a lesser degree on Mother England. The emergence of Trans Atlantic travel and moving pictures have inundated the impressionable minds. These Flappers are so brazen as to bob their hair, their crowning glory, and to bare their arms and legs in public. They flaunt tradition and respect in the face of decency. The vulgar animal gyrations of their dances, including but not limited to The Shimmy, The Charleston, and The Black Bottom are eliciting gasps nation-wide. Gaudy baubles hang from their necks. Rings the size of Model T's bedeck their fingers and painted faces stare defiantly through the thick smoke of their ciggies. They even patronize those dens of evil - Speakeasys -knowing full well they are afoul of the law. They may even attend the Grand Opening of The Four Deuces Speakeasy in Hiawassee, Georgia in March.This reporter is horrified.
Prudence Harmon
Post Script For research purposes only, does anyone in the reading public know where to procure that Max Factor lip tint and face rouge?
HIAWASSEE GAZETTE PRESS RELEASE Date Line 1922 26 Jan 2012, 7:50 am
Don Wannabe promises that the Grand Opening of his Four Deuces, ah, Nightclub ( sources say it's really one of those speakeasys ) is to be a fashionable affair. This gala is scheduled for March in Hiawassee, Georgia. We're told that duds with a decided World War I influence will be in evidence. Leather aviator jackets with colored scarves for women, white for men and goggles all around will create a look that's the cat's pajamas. And can you believe it? Some women will be wearing trousers. Trousers! This reporter has heard that the Art Deco gowns by Erte, former designer of the Ziegfeld Follies costumes, will be center stage. These plunging neckline, backless, body revealing numbers are sweeping the nation. A craze for jewelry reflecting the Court Of King Tutankhama is also in the fashion forefront since the excavation of his tomb in 1922. Mr. Wannabe assures these "treasures" will be sported by his elite guests. It's sure to be all glitz and glamor in the mountains this March. Rumor has it that Mr. Al Capone will make an appearance. While this has not been confirmed, it is sure to be a bang-up event. Look for The Gazette's next installment, "What's All The Flap About," on newsstands soon.Music of the Age 20 Jan 2012, 12:57 pm
Man, am I jazzed about our Murder Mystery Weekend ( rescheduled for March 16-18 ) set in a Speakeasy. Jazz. It was the music rage of the age. It was the Jazz Age. The Harlem Renaissance style music. Bessie Smith, George Gershwin, and his lesser-mentioned brother Ira , a true wordsmith, and Duke Ellington. These were the real goods. Not your one-hit wonders. They were on fire in the 20sand they still cook. Who knows, maybe some of them will be dropping by for the grand opening of The Four Deuces Speakeasy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Researching this decade for what will no doubt be a swinging time has been a true pleasure. Let me prepare these rooms for this weekend's guests and we'll talk fashion of the 1920s. From day wear to formal, the clash of conservatism to body revealing couture had this era really roaring.First Wedding 17 Jan 2012, 1:59 pm
I asked and she told me that her dress was blue. Somewhere between navy and royal. Armed with this info, I called and ordered the tiny, exquisite cake ( a gift from us ) from a local bakery. Because it was early October, there was still a bouquet's worth of fanciful mountain wildflowers and other bounties from Mother Nature. A nosegay was fashioned because in my exalted opinion, every bride should carry flowers.
On the morning of the wedding day he and she left the inn directly after breakfast for a sightseeing adventure. This gave us the chance to ready our little gazebo for the role of wedding altar . While Ma Nature cooperated with flowers, the wind was a different matter. As I tried to drape the bright and beautiful Indian saris from the gazebo's rafters, they were whipped away and carried down the hill. After my third trip down the ladder and then the hill to retrieve yards of fabric, Plan B was formulated and put into play. I could only loop the saris on the nails used for gazebo Christmas lights. Not exactly the look I'd had in mind but a look all the same.
The appointed wedding time was 5:00 PM. With the bride and groom dressing for the event, a chilly drizzle began. Although I thought it impossible, the wind kicked-up more. We were talking of moving things inside, when just at 5:00, the clouds parted and that silver-gray and white, with just a little sunlight, filtered through. It was gorgeous! He and she were gorgeous and so were those sorry saris. The service was simple and dear. We toasted with the great bubbly he and she kindly shared with us. I only hope that he and she had as much fun at their wedding as I did.
MURDER MYSTERY WEEKEND 15 Dec 2011, 12:43 pm
Picture it. America. January, 1920, the passing of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America prohibits the sale, manufacture or distribution of the old devil whiskey (or any alcohol for that matter). Not everyone's thrilled.By 1925 there were more than 30,000 speakeasies in New York City alone. Certain lore whispers of a mountain town way down South. Hiawassee, Georgia, was to have its own establishment where a little of this and a lot of that was to happen. Don Wannabe was set to open the Four Deuces Speakeasy and Bait Shop with a celebration, but a murder caused prohibitions of its own.
Chancey Hill Inn is hosting its first Murder Mystery Weekend on March 16-18, 2012. There will be plenty of gangsters, hit men, politicians, molls and dirty rats in attendance. Mark the date and check back soon for more details.
Dale