Starting later this spring, you’ll be able to step back in time in Dillsboro, North Carolina, at the Jarrett House . The 142-year-old hotel and restaurant will reopen after five years of extensive restoration work.
Some renovations of historic properties mean retro-fitting the interior to be more modern. But owner Chris Ellsworth has gone to great lengths to ensure historical accuracy throughout the Jarrett House, meaning you’ll feel transported back in time from the moment you arrive.
The Historic Property Almost Closed For Good
The Jarrett House originally opened in 1884 as the Mount Beulah Hotel. The Southern Railway route connecting Western North Carolina had just opened, and Dillsboro founder William Allen Dills recognized the opportunity to have a hotel adjacent to the railroad.
Over the past 142 years, the property has changed hands multiple times and gone through a few name iterations. It’s been the Jarrett House since 1949, and was added to the National Historic Register of Places in 1984.
Like many businesses during COVID-19, the property closed in 2020. It had been experiencing some difficulties, with public records indicating delinquent property taxes as early as 2015. After being listed for foreclosure, it was eventually purchased in January 2021 by Chris Ellsworth.
Ellsworth grew up in New York, but lived in neighboring Sylva, North Carolina from middle school through high school, so buying the property has been a bit of a homecoming for him.
He says he was attracted to the Jarrett House for its history, proximity to Sylva, and his long-term goal of running a restaurant and bar. “I'm a self -proclaimed real estate adventurist,” he says. “I like buying old buildings, things that people either didn't think were capable of being fixed.”
Ellsworth originally thought the property would reopen in 2022, but laughs at how far-off his estimate has been. Bookings will now open on May 5 of this year, and the property will begin welcoming guests in mid-to-late May.
Restoring Charm And authenticity
“The amount of work that this property needed was 20 times bigger than the biggest project I've ever done,” he says. His team had to lift the entire property off the ground to put in a new foundation and completely reframe everything.
“Once we started taking things apart, we were like, oh boy, this was not far from going tumbling,” he says of the efforts to rebuild. “But now it's in good shape.”
The property is being restored to how it looked between 1900 and 1930, using photos and references Ellsworth and his team have been able to find of the property. It’s not getting restored back to its opening year because bathrooms weren’t part of the rooms then, but had been added by the early 1900s.
Each of the twenty-three rooms is decorated with furniture from that time period, too. Finding enough furniture that’s that old has been challenging, Ellsworth says, but says Facebook marketplace has been the most helpful at sourcing the mix of Eastlake, Art Deco and Victorian antiques that fill the rooms.
And in keeping with the historical charm, you won’t find a TV in any of the hotel rooms. You will find WiFi throughout the property, though, even though it wasn’t around in the 1930s.
The Jarrett House Restaurant Returns
What Ellsworth has heard the most feedback on, though, is how excited people are for the property’s restaurant to return.
“The restaurant is where the real history is,” he says. “Most people's memories here were about the restaurant.”
Just like the hotel’s restoration, Ellsworth is staying true to the restaurant’s history. It’ll serve the same Southern food family-style that it had in the past, including the silver-dollar biscuits the restaurant is known for.
“I think the world would kill me if I got rid of the tiny biscuits,” he says. “I had no idea that people loved those biscuits like they did and if I change those, I think I might be run out of town.”
Other favorites, like the restaurant’s famous Vinegar Pie and comfort foods like fried catfish and country-cured ham, will also be on offer.
While the property’s bar is now open, the hotel and restaurant will be open later this spring.
“To me, this started as a project to just fix up a building and have a cool hotel in the mountains, but everybody in the community has a connection to this project,” Ellsworth says. “I had no idea that this project meant so much to the people of this town and to Western North Carolina, and I’m really excited about that.”
Read the original article on Southern Living
