Green Park Inn

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  This is a lovely old hotel. The key word is old.  Full of history and interesting stories, but very old. The staff was wonderful! Long wait for food, though. If you are looking for old mountain elegance, and a historical location, this is your spot!

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  Posted on 10.23.12 Kelly S.

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  Because I was in charge of planning our Blowing Rock vacay, that meant I got to choose the hotel. When I found out that this was where Margaret Mitchell wrote some of Gone With The Wind, I was sold. It's one of my all time favorite books and I love visiting and supporting places with so much incredible history. Other notable guests to this historic hotel have included Annie Oakley, President Cleveland and Marilyn Monroe, just to name a few.
  
  Check out this really incredible article about the inn's history and restoration here: <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Ftravel%2F2012%2F07%2F16%2Fhistoric-north-carolina-mountain-lodge-reborn%2F&s=6aac99b76de9ca3b3590307f139f3052977f0e24bafcb34b65d7b5ad0cbfbb55" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.foxnews.com/t…</a>
  
  Upon arrival, we were greeted and given a real key to our room. Although there is a musty, "historic" smell in the hallways, the room smelled really fresh and clean. Amenities were nice and although the fixtures were classic, there was an hdtv and free wireless internet. Perfect mix of modern and historic. Do be careful about flushing the toilet while someone is in the shower--needless to say, it was unfortunate.
  
  We enjoyed drinks at the bar, which we brought out the rocking chairs out front and dined at the inn's restaurant. Food and drinks were immaculately prepared. The free breakfast in the mornings was also incredibly generous and delicious.
  
  My only complaint is upon checking out, the service was a bit less than friendly. We had to wait while the clerk accosted a man for not returning a room key he claimed to have never received. It was an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise wonderful stay.

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  Posted on 08.18.12 Brittany F.

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  My wife and I were guests last weekend at this historic Inn.  Well, it's not really an "Inn" but an 80 room full service hotel with Tavern and restaurant.  It's also not a B and B, but they give you a full made to order breakfast with the room that's basic, but good.  Check in went smoothly and was friendly.   There's no doorman, but the desk asked if we needed help and someone appeared to assist with our bags. All the staff went out of their way to be friendly and help.  This place isn't corporate or a chain and it shows in the caring personal service.
    The whole place had recently been entirely restored and everything was new.  We read about it in an AP story that appeared in the Philadelphia Enquirer.  We also saw that it is a member of the Prestige Hotel group's Historic Hotels of America.  We prefer to patronize historic properties, lest our heritage be lost.   It was a long, but easy ride down the Shenandoah Valley.  There were rockers on the Veranda, and on the balcony of our spacious room.  It had a nice view of the golf course and the Mountains beyond.  The room was immaculate.  I could understand why when they did a daily makeover while I was in there.  Two housekeepers assaulted the room and left nothing undone or untouched.  The closet was bigger than most hotel rooms today.
   I had brought a bottle of wine but forgot a corkscrew, so I called the front desk and a server shortly appeared, not only with the corkscrew, but with a tray, napkin and 2 nice wine glasses.  She set it all up on the table on our balcony, opened the bottle, poured it and left us to enjoy the moment.  Wonderful.  I later found out it was Amanda, the bartender, when we stopped for an after dinner drink in the lively Tavern.  She's great.  They don't have room service, but seemed to find a way to get it done,
    They did a really nice job with the restoration, but kept lots of the "old" character.  The elevator is ancient, but restored and fully certified, the room locks are new, but they use real keys, not those problematic plastic cards.  The toilet in our room was even an old classic Crane fixture with a full sized tank that could actually flush without reloading. It all feels so timeless, yet the phones, HDTVs, and free wireless Internet are all state of the art.
     All in all, a great experience.  Put the Blue Ridge Mountains on your bucket list.  They really are blue and shouldn't be missed.  Much more dramatic than the Green Mountains, which are only green in the summer.

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  Posted on 08.08.12 Steve G.

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  We saw a segment on NC Weekend on PBS about the restoration of the historic Green Park Inn and decided to give it a try.
  
  We have stayed at a number of historic hotels so, we thought we knew what to expect.  First, it is a historic hotel.  That means old.   It was obviously built over several years with wings added at some later time.  It has been nicely restored.
  
  First impressions weren't great.  As we approached the front door, there was a female employee standing there texting away at hundred miles an hour.  She paused long enough to smile at us and open the door.  We checked in quickly and went back to get our baggage.  There she was, texting away again.  We loaded up and headed back inside.  She again paused long enough to open the door.  I'm not sure if she was supposed to be a doorman or was just an employee that picked a lousy place to take her break.
  
  The common areas are gorgeous.  There is a large sitting area in the lobby,  a large front porch (unfortunately, routinely occupied by smokers) and a great little bar with stained glass windows.  
  
  We upgraded to a balcony room and enjoyed it.  The room was spotless, large and nicely decorated.   It did have an odd flowery-stale smell tho... The restroom had some of the original decor, the toilet was cracked and just looked old. The balcony was a great place to enjoy the cool mountain weather.  We spent a fair amount of time there.
  
  I routinely harass my wife about carrying her hair dryer when we travel.  All hotels have them.  So.....the one time she leaves it behind, we get the hotel without hair dryers and irons in the room.  Fortunately for me, they had them available for checkout at the front desk.   Another pet peeve of mine is that when I'm spending in excess of $180 for a night, the  least the hotel could do is have real glassware in the room rather than crappy shrink wrapped plastic cups.  C'mon, how much can glasses cost?  The linens were nice quality and the beds were comfortable  tho...
  
  Housekeeping didn't get to our room until after 4:30 and after I went to the front desk and asked about it.  I know that someone has to be last but, we were out of our room by 8:00 AM.  When they finally arrived, our housekeepers were efficient and as nice as they could be.
  
  Breakfast was included in the rate and was pretty good although, a bit boring and uninspired.  Eggs, waffles and french toast cooked to order.  The staff couldn't seem to keep up tho.  Coffee cups were nearly always empty; a cardinal sin of breakfast service.
  
  All in all, it was a nice stay although, I'm not sure we'll be back.

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  Posted on 07.30.12 Marc C.

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  So we ended up here because we were nervous about the Meadowview Inn.  At first the hotel seemed eeeeerie.  Kinda like the shining (movie) hotel.  We stayed for 2 nights.  Thankfully they had a bar.  The room was very large, big windows and comfy (firm) beds.
  
  After we came back from dinner we went to the bar for a drink.  Ended up running into so neat folks from Florida that just moved to Raleigh.  The owner was also in there entertaining the kids.  The guy is full of stories and energy.
  
  Breakfast (incl in rate) was quite good, better than the average free bfast of carbs, sugar, crappy coffee and those weird sausage links.  This one had real eggs cooked to order, granola, waffles, etc.
  
  Give it a try if you are in the Blowing Rock (don't waste your money or time going to the actual Blowing Rock, what a joke).

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  Posted on 03.13.12 Shane M.

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