We rose today to another fine morning. We have been staying in McMinnville in a cottage in the grounds of a late 19th Century mansion called Falcons Rest, owned by George and Charlien McGlothin. The cottage we’re in has two bedrooms in our wing and as there is nobody on the other side of the property we have the run of the building to ourselves. Breakfast is served in the coach house adjacent to the manor which is used for weddings other events held at the mansion. The food is beautifully presented, made by Charlien.
The mansion itself was built in 1896 by Clay Faulkner, a local entrepreneur, who made his fortune in mills where he had a line of trousers called “gorilla pants” (obviously in reference to their strength). He built the 10,000 sq ft mansion for his family. After his death none of the family wished to carry on the estate so it was sold and eventually in the 1940s, Clay Faulkner's mansion was converted into a hospital and nursing home. In 1968 the hospital closed it’s doors for the last time. The owner found it impossible to sell the property decided to try and strip the inside, removing the woodwork and even unsuccessfully tried to remove the brick work. Essentially the house was a wreck when it was purchased by George and Charlien in 1989.Actually the house was purchased by George as a "surprise"for Charlien. He mortgaged their home to bid for it! They had experience in reconstructing old properties, but this was a real project, and took them 4 ½ years to complete doing about 90% of the work themselves. They don’t actually live in the property but use it as business running tours, providing a location for weddings, meetings etc. George who is a bit of a thespian also runs a few shows including a vaudeville show, a murder mystery dinner and “ghost at the mansion”show.We decided to do the tour. As we were the only ones there is was a personal tour for the four of us. Jack and Emily were particularly interested in the tales of the ghosts haunting the mansion. It is somewhat spooky doing the tour with only a few of you. The house has been fully restored and filled with period furniture collected by the McGlothins from antique shops and fairs. We get told about the Faulkner family and then about how the house was used in the time it was a hospital and rest home. When you see the photos of the property at the time George and Charlien bought it you see the amount of work they had to do during their renovation. It is just as well we’re doing the tour today – a week later they are being invaded by 400 fifth graders (nightmare). After the tour we let Jack and Emily spend a little time in the Victorian gift shop which has some very nice things on sale.
It is now time to head off for our next stop, Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky. As we head north a rain storm crosses our path and this is also the day before Thanksgiving – so travelling is not a lot of fun. Finally exhausted we arrived at the Mammoth Caves Hotel – which will be where we spend Thanksgiving this year.
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