Who has not fantasized about beginning their own Bed and Breakfast Inn? However, if you can’t create a haven of your own to share with others, visiting a variety of B & Bs is the next best thing. But how to choose?
Considering just how many bed and breakfasts dot the countryside of this great nation of ours, it can be something of a difficult feat to pick out just a few highlights to represent the best.
In fact, even narrowing down the category to the top 5 bed and breakfasts on the eastern seaboard presents a daunting challenge: every state from Maine on down has something to offer. From historic New England charm to southern-style hospitality, there really is no way you can go wrong finding a bed and breakfast somewhere where North America meets the Atlantic Ocean.
So are we up to the challenge? Of course! Let’s sweep across the entire seaboard and see what kind of great bed and breakfast offerings we can dig up for you:
1. Smith Mountain Lake’s European Bed & Breakfast. Admittedly, you don’t necessarily head to Virginia for a European experience; you go for the Virginia experience. But considering all of the local attractions in Smith Mountain Lake and the surrounding area, it’s hard to ignore a bed and breakfast establishment like this – especially considering the picturesque views that you would swear are straight out of a magazine. The owners, Bill and Anne Piatt, bring their well-traveled style to the bed and breakfast to give their hosting something of a continental twinge. Guests love it.
2. Buttonwood Inn. Located in New Hampshire? Well, that settles it. We admit to a little pro-New England bias when it comes to the hospitality industry – it’s hard to argue that they seem to have mastered the art form – but considering that the Buttonwood Inn is one of the most renowned and luxuriously comfortable entries into the marketplace, it would be hard for us to ignore even after our trip through Smith Mountain Lake.
3. The Palmer Home. Charleston, South Carolina is home to some of the best southern hospitality you’ll come across in the entire country, and the Palmer Home is one of the reasons why. In fact, the Palmer Home is considered one of the city’s best and most famous homes, which is saying a lot especially in a place like Charleston.
4. Hydrangea House. Located in Newport, Rhode Island – no, it’s not cheating to list a Newport bed and breakfast – this house’s 10 rooms make it the perfect luxury location for a large and well-traveled family that wants an authentic taste of the Rhode Island coast and all the Atlantic beaches have to offer. The French style of the house also finds its way into everything you’ll have, from the food to the décor – try scrambled eggs in puff pastry and you’ll never want to leave.
5. Westwinds. Admittedly, Key West is about as far south on the “eastern seaboard” as we really can get, but it would be unfair not to mention that the Gulf Coast is another portion of the eastern section of our country that knows how to handle its hospitality. That’s evident at Westwinds, a historic site that was built even before World War II.
Paul Moore is a marketing strategist for this residential location on Smith Mountain Lake. It’s an amazing location, loved for it’s beauty, peace, and lakeside-living lifestyle as well as a favorite of movie producers.