Prospect Hill Bed & Breakfast Inn TN|NC

Ready for relaxing? Visiting friends or enjoying outdoor activities?
Our inn is located in the Appalachian Mountains and town of Mountain City, TN, just north of Boone/Blowing Rock, NC--a unique rural mountain and valley area easily reachable from most parts of the Southeast. Start your day with a hearty breakfast (included).

The area's natural beauty is the inn's best amenity.The Wagner-Rambo house was built in primarily rural Johnson County, TN, in 1889, Today it iis a small mid-century Tennessee town surrounded by mountain ranges, thousands of acres of Cherokee National Forest and scenic overlooks connected by barely traveled rural lanes. It's just a short drive from pristine Watauga Lake, a wide variety of hiking trails, bicycling trails (Appalachian Trail and Virginia Creeper Trail), horseback riding and auto touring. In winter go skiing, snow boarding or tubing. Shopping, museums, wineries and more restaurants are not far away. Some shops are located "downtown" Mountain City, a 5 min. walk away.

Our five large, private, romantic guest rooms with unique private baths await your visit. Rooms feature king or queen beds, soft robes, and scented candles. Our freestanding 3-bedroom/2-bath house is located 7 miles away (north) of Mountain City. The inn is a short drive north of Boone, NC, and south of Damascus, VA.

Each guest room is large, private and uniquely decorated. Many have whirlpool tubs; all have fireplaces, central heat/air, cable TV, CD players, robes, candles, snacks and free wireless. Break- fast is included along with "always available" coffee/tea/hot chocolate. Guest refrigerator, too.

Room prices range from $109-$179 with event pricing at $199-$235.   Cottage: $99-$399.

We cure stress - with a mountain getaway

• We make it easy for you to relax - life is short; enjoy your time away from home!
• Our inn always offers flexible check in times, (evenings until 11 pm; self check in thereafter). Please ask us.
• Activities planning - before you arrive or upon arrival. We can advice or direct you with insider's info on our three-state area. Or, "plan" on doing nothing. It's up to you.
• Our inn has large rooms; lots of privacy.
• Very comfortable queen or king beds
• All-private baths. Whirlpool tubs for soothing tight musicles, Bubble bath, candles and comfortable robes (included free) set the mood.
• Fireplaces are found in every guest bedroom;  Room 1 also has a fireplace in the bathroom in view of the tub.
• Celebration, dinner and event packages
• Spend a day in the nearby countryside.... Our best suggestions of what to see on loop trips around through nearby Tennessee,  Virginia and North Carolina towns.
• Thoughtful creature comforts: Free wireless service, individual heat/air controls, ceiling fans, snack basket and chocolates (no charge), late continental breakfast in your room by arrangement (the day ahead).
• Patios, decks and garden for outdoor relaxing
• No smoking indoors; some smoking areas outside (best access is from Room 1 and 5)
• Choice of five different rooms - all at very reasonable prices: $109-$179 (may vary during special event weekends)
• A Cottage in the Woods available for families with children, pets or couples wanting complete, uninterupted privacy.
   

More amenities (and a few for business travelers, too).

• Corporate rates, state/federal per diem for single guests arriving/staying  Sunday to Thursday
• Quiet rooms and all private baths
• Wireless internet , in-room televisions, in-room thermostats for heat/air, ceiling fans
• Breakfast - full, lite or not included depending on package
• Flexible check in-check out, cancellation
• Free coffee/tea 24/7, guest kitchen with refrigerator, microwave, free parking
• Free conference room for one-on-one meetings. Full size conference room for group meetings
• Desk in room as neededAll major credit cards; corporate accounts for frequent guests, local companies
   

We are near...

Boone, NC | Blowing Rock, NC | Banner Elk, NC| Valle Crucis, NC| West Jefferson, NC | Abingdon, VA | Fish Springs Marina | Bristol TN, & VA | Elizabethton's covered bridge | Around the corner from the Striped Snake— Hwy. 421—Nature's joyride to Shady Valley | Appalachian State University  | Appalachian Trail | Virginia Creeper Trail | Damascus, VA | Bristol Motor Speedway | Watauga Lake | Red Tail Mountain Golf | Daniel's Retreat on Doe Mountain | Butler, TN | Northeast Correctional Facility | Elizabethton, TN |

Small-town Mountain City-- just minutes from awesome golf, biking, fly fishing, tours for scenery, shopping, rafting, horseback riding and hiking.
 

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 pumping bread or poppy seed bread.

Enjoy a hearty breakfast included in the fare.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.)

Recognitions and 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

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.

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!

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.

Robert breaks down boxes and recycles cardboard

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.

Special moments and great views - your wedding at Prospect Hill B&B

Propsect Hill B&B Inn is the perfect location for mid-size destination and regional weddings. Mountain views in the garden; great architecture in the party room (which seats up to 55). Our party room has its own caterer's kitchen (your choice of caterers), restrooms and entry foyer. Ample parking on site or next door. Free onsite planning and facilitator.

Size & Capacity of Prospect Hill B&B Inn

Size of our facility — About 50-65 persons can be seated for dinner in The Pavilion. For standing parties, invite 100 friends. We also have a large paved area where a tent as large as 40x120 feet may be placed a short distance from the Garden and main party room (Capacity up to 200). Parking in all cases uses the adjoining property (paved lots holding at least 100 cars).

Built especially for weddings with views, the main area is 25 x 34 feet, single-story space with native walnut window trim, warm mellow yellow walls, tall vaulted ceilings and matching earth-tone tile floors.

A 10-foot wide bay window in The Pavilion is ideal for wedding ceremonies. It has extra flood lights to accentuate the ceremony without appearing in the pictures, plus a hDestination wedding in the Appalachian Mountains and Prospect Hill Wedding Gardenuge gable-end window for a view of the mountains.

Outside, the building is the Wedding Garden will seat about 100 with a mountain view in the distance. The perennial gardens which edge the Wedding Garden feature many beautiful plants--some flowers, but no jarring or bright colors to detract from the wedding theme. Our new outdoor gazebo is large, bronze and very romantic. It may be moved around the garden and placed to suit you.

Amenities
Public restrooms, kitchen for the cater to set up in, tent site, garden with views, party room with vaulted ceiling, sounds system and special lighting and heat/cool systems. Foyer/gallery, easy access to guest rooms. Parking available. Handicap accessible.

Destination weddings: Prospect Hill's facility offers many beautiful opportunities for your family and friends. Full weekend rental (5 rooms) required for weddings with more than 12 guests or lasting after 5 pm.

Family weekend weddings: Bring your family together for a weekend. In between the festivities you get married.

Rehearsal Dinners, etc.

The main Pavilion Room is perfect for rehearsal dinners, showers, bridesmaid’s luncheons as well as wedding ceremonies and anniversary and renewal parties. You may also choose a nearby restaurant, Tributary on Main, which has a private dining room for small parties. 423-727-4150.

The architecture stands alone or it can be decorated to meet your needs. Catering by outside vendors is permitted. The inn has white china, ivory linens, many tables and chairs and some vases to be included in your rental.

Elopement Weddings

Whether it's just the two of you, or a gathering of a handful of family or friends (up to 4), we strive to make the event lovely, loving, stress-free and memorable.

Eloping couples may choose the site of their ceremony once they arrive at the inn. For elopements, the front porch arches frame a mountain view which makes lovely wedding photos. The perennial garden surrounds you in flowers with mountain ridges in the background. The parlor is also a favorite spot. The bay window in the main rental room, in front of the fountain, under the gazebo, facing or with backs to the mountain view or in the gallery facing the garden have all been the choice of previous couples. The cake and punch "ceremony" is usually set up in the inn's dining room.

Elopement for Two - Inclusive Package: Two nights in your choice of Romance Room, ceremony with minister or clerk/judge officiating, a number of photos made by the inn (plus the innkeeper will use your camera(s) for additional shots), double hearts handmade wedding cake and punch, CD music provided or we will play your CD, bridal bouquet (standard flowers) and boutonniere. Just the two of you (up to 4 others attending). $695 plus 8.5% tax. Not included:  Tennessee county/state license ($110), dinner--we recommend the Tributary on Main.

Marriage License

To get married at the inn you will need a Tennessee marriage license (about $110) and one witness (the innkeeper) purchased no more than 30 days in advance from any Tennessee county clerk. There is no waiting/no blood test.

Inn is located in Johnson County (TN) . The Courthouse (423-727-9633) is open Monday-Friday 8:30-5 and Saturday 8:30-noon. Located at 222 West Main St., Mountain City, it is just five blocks from the inn. An out-of-state license cannot be used. A photo ID is necessary. Bring your divorce papers if your case was recent. Our courthouse is sometimes closed on holiday weekends; please phone ahead. Credit cards accepted in this county. Licenses from other Tennessee counties may be used. The form may be obtained online.

Marriage renewal and commitment ceremonies do not require a license.

Officiant

You may be married by a minister, an elected official, judge or former county commissioner or mayor.   The official's fee is included in our package price. The official's fee is a separate line item for "larger" weddings. You may also bring your own officiant. You may also bring your own officiant. (Mail order credentials are excluded by our state.)

We frequently call upon Rev. Maggie Owens-Yates, a Methodist pastor, who performs an inspiring and lovely Christian ceremony. She is available on weekends, and weekdays at 6 pm or later. We also call upon several other officials in our area, including a spiritualist and the county mayor for non-religious ceremonies. The area does not have justices of the peace.

Event Insurance

Available from many sources including Julia Gambill, Travelers, Boone, NC, emerals1@aol.com 828-682-9634 or [cell] 828-329-3200

Locations:  You may choose the Wedding Garden and Mountain, Pavilion, The Gallery, public restrooms in the Pavilion and Gallery. Ceremony will be conducted by a local minister or clerk/judge (OR bring your own Tennessee-licensed official).

The innkeeper will make several dozen digital photos (burn to a CD and make a few prints for you to take home) She will also use your camera(s) for additional shots.

Larger gatherings — please call or email Judy Hotchkiss, innkeeper, for pricing. NASCAR weekends, (mid-March and late August) are available for weddings without any overnight accommodations available or required. Higher prices for Valentine's Day weekend and October weekends will apply.

Honeymoon Registry Service

Is your heart set on a honeymoon at Prospect Hill?  At no charge, we will set up a honeymoon gift registry service. Simply have your friends who to contribute your honeymoon fund call the inn. We will charge their credit card for the desired gift amount and credit your account. We'll also send you a card on their behalf.  To set up your registry, select your preferred room and call the inn to make a reservation.

Please note: Registry funds are only refundable to the owner of the credit card who purchased them per merchant services bylaws.

General Information

We are NOT simply renting you a room and a garden. We plan and executive your beautiful day from start to finish with as little or or much participation as your prefer.

Our property is best suited for groups under 60 persons (unless you are planning an outdoor wedding where we can seat 150 or more followed by a standing reception or one elsewhere.). We can seat 55 for dinner.

We provide many items others may rent for a fee: This includes our tables, chairs, linens, china, glassware, vases, candle stands, gazebo (to the best of our ability and from our onsite supply.)

We strive for cost-effective events which fulfill your dreams.

Starting price: $2700 plus tax for 1-day wedding and 5 guest rooms rented for two nights."Prep day" by family/friends additional. Food, flowers, officiant, license, rental items not owned by inn additional. October weekends slightly higher.

One-day events: Sundays through Thursdays, some weekends Dec.-April..

Our Catering Partner: We proudly partner with Tributary Restaurant. See them at FOOD 423-727-4150. Other caterers may also serve. Family, friends and non-licensed food suppliers may be used (fee for added work done by inn with these vendors).

Our Floral Partner: Shady Grove Gardens of Vilas, NC, offers exciting florals made from flowers and plant material which is grown exclusively in Watauga & Ashe counties, NC. FLORALS 828-297-4098

Why are two days best on weekends? We recommend full weekend rentals because this allows enough time for full enjoyment, family time and less rushing (Saturday check in is 3 pm).

Please call Judy Hotchkiss for details. 423-727-0139

Our rental facility meets the needs of groups which need first class meeting space near downtown Mountain City. We can host your one-day or multiple-day training or seminar program. Catered meals are easily arranged.

Amenities

We have WIFI, a large blank wall for projection, comfortable chairs and an airy, roomy, easy-to-use room. Overnight accommodations are available for your visiting speakers and trainers

Size of our facility — We easily handle meetings of 10-35 persons (tables and chairs provided). and we can seat about 50-60 persons for dinner using standard folding rented chairs.

Outside, the building is the Garden which will seat well over 100 with a mountain view in the distance. We can seat quite a few more in a tent on our tent pad adjoining the garden. (45X140 feet, paved). Prospect Hill's facility offers many beautiful opportunities for your event.

For smaller groups we provide all table linens, china and flatware. Basic set up of meals brought in by outside caterers is included. Larger events require additional paid staff.

We have a large paved area where a tent as large as 40x120 feet may be placed a short distance from the Garden and main party room. Parking for large groups uses the adjoining property (paved lots holding at least 100 cars). Smaller groups fit on-site.

Our building is a 25 x 34 feet, single-story space with native walnut window trim, warm colors which recall the Mediterranean or Tuscany, with matching earth-tone tile floors.

A 10-foot wide bay window in The Pavilion is ideal for special events. It has extra flood lights to accentuate the ceremony without appearing in the pictures, plus a huge gable-end window for a view of the mountains.

The inn’s five guest rooms–in the historic portion of the inn--are large and fully equipped with sought-after modern amenities (whirlpool tubs, fireplaces, king or queen beds, robes, snacks, TVs and in-room WIFI).

The location is a short 23 miles from Boone, NC, and less than 40 minutes from Abingdon, VA. Johnson City, TN is about 48 minutes away.