Guerrant Mountain Mission Bed & Breakfast

Guerrant Mountain Mission Bed & Breakfast...is one of four, 'Turn of the Century', historical buildings still located on the grounds of the Guerrant Mountain Mission Clinic and Hospital. The former Nurse's Home was built directly behind the Edwardian Style Guerrant Mission Clinic & Hospital, the Federal Style Guerrant Mountain Mission Bed and Breakfast was renovated in 1998. This home combines old world charm with modern amenities. 

 

Come! Explore The
Guerrant Mountain Mission Bed & Breakfast...

 

Thousands came out of the Appalachian mountains to receive free, some of the finest, surgical and medical treatment for its day. By 1935, the Guerrant Clinic was described by the Courier Journal as being one of the four best small hospitals in the Southeastern United States. 

 

Enter into... the front Hall Entrance of white walnut paneling.

Hang your wrap... on the Victorian Hall tree that almost reaches to the ceiling.

Stroll into... the ole hospital kitchen and dining room.

Sit...relax... at the same beautifully carved oak dining table used 60 years ago by the nurses and doctors taking their lunch.

Lounge... on the couches for a late afternoon break of fruit and sweets or, better yet...

Take in...the summer breeze and gaze out over the estate's backyard while lounging on the beautiful deck.

Venture...into the old Parlor where guests were received and page through 'Turn of the Century' photos of the Mountain Mission work conducted by E.O. Guerrant, M.D., D.D. (1837-1916) or gaze at Mother's old scrapbook from the early 30's. 

Ready to Relax? Choose Your Suite!

Before you leave, help us to...Capture the Spirit...
of bygone days as we continue the renovation of the three remaining buildings.

Edward Putney Guerrant, M.D., founder of Bethany Hospital 1915, and Guerrant Mountain Mission Clinic & Hospital 1926.

Edward O. Guerrant, M.D., D.D., (1836-1916) Presbyterian evangelist and physician to the Appalachian Mountain poor.

Purchasing the property of Dr. Brown Ismael at 217 S. Main St., Dr. E.P. Guerrant (1888-1964) was off to an auspicious beginning. The location of his practice in Winchester, KY in 1913 was not a careless decision. His own father, Edward O. Guerrant, M.D., D.D. (1836-1916) was a renowned Presbyterian evangelist and physician to the highland peoples of the Appalachian Mountains. During his tour of service with Gen. John Hunt Morgan in the Confederate Army, Dr. E.O. Guerrant was taken back by the sparse or non-existent spiritual and health needs of the mountain people of Kentucky and, following graduation from seminary and medical school, gave the next forty years of his life to their betterment. At his death in 1916, God had blessed his work by creating: three orphanages, two colleges, fifty-six churches, schools, and mission houses, that touched the lives of 40,000 pupils, eighty-four salaried workers, hundreds of unsalaried volunteers, 362 evangelists, and 6,304 salvations for the Kingdom.

Twelve years would pass before a more spacious building located at 217 S. Main would be purchased in 1927. With $8,000 of his own money, Dr. E.P. Guerrant purchased the Edwardian architectural home and promptly placed it under the auspices of the Home Missions Department of the Southern Presbyterian Church. Two years later, on September 15, 1929, the Articles of Incorporation of the Edward O. Guerrant Memorial Association, named in honor of his evangelist/physician father, would be established. The articles present the goals of the mountain mission hospital: "to own and operate a mission hospital...to especially aid and serve the Southern people in our mountain districts; and no charge shall be made for those who are too poor to pay, nor shall any medical or surgical fee be charged to any mission worker or preacher or their dependents who are giving their lives to the Church's work."

Edward Putney's father convinced him that the dire needs of the Appalachian people were far more important than his desire to be a farmer. Highly educated for his day, Dr. E.P. Guerrant graduated from Tulane Medical School, with post-graduate work at Harvard University, Columbia University, Sloans Maternity Center, and John Hopkins, before coming to Winchester, Ky., by the prayers of his father, to open a practice for the mountain people. Winchester had been chosen because many Highlanders were too afraid to enter the big town of Lexington, Ky. for medical treatment. However, Winchester was small, the Lexington & Eastern Railroad passed through on its way to Jackson, Ky., and Winchester was close enough to Lexington and Louisville's Medical School for more serious cases.

Even through D.E.P. Guerrant opened his private practice in the McEldowney building in Court Street in 1913, he had not dismissed his fathers' exhortations to start a mountain mission clinic. In less than a year, he convinced the Ruby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to fund his effort to begin Winchester's first hospital.

Bethany Hospital was located in the Combs Building two doors from the Fairfax Church of Christ, which then was located on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Maple Street. As a two story structure, Dr. Guerrant moved his private practice into the first floor, designating three hospital beds for the men's ward and a laboratory. The second floor contained one private room, three beds for the ladies ward, kitchen, and storage area. Bethany Hospital opened its doors on February 10, 1915 and received as its first inpatient, Mrs. Rice from Chevi, Kentucky.

Medical trips by Dr. E.P. Guerrant and his staff into the mountains of Eastern Kentucky continued for many years. Donations of every conceivable item poured into the mission hospital: clothing, bandages, medical equipment, sewing machines, furniture, farm equipment, produce and animals, and countless monetary donations, of which the largest (Mary Graddy Kendall and Hayden Kendall) donation helped to build the present Nurse's Home. But, no donation could match the sacrifice of Dr. E.P., his wife Lucy Mae, countless nurses such as Verda Brassfield, and the hundreds of volunteers who so generously gave without asking for anything in return than to remember Christ who made it all possible.

Take I-64 to Winchester, exit at Paris Road exchange no. 96. Take Maple Street Expressway into Winchester, turn left, go one block to Main Street and turn right. Go past courthouse approximately two blocks and turn left onto Valentine Court.