The Duke Mansion

Not bad, BUT we were in room 320 & it did take almost 15 min for the shower to warm up! & @ least 10 min for the sink water to heat up the next am! It’s quite the chilly room overall - open the closet door to get robes & it’s cold! The night was probably mid to high 30’s & thank goodness there was a portable heater in the closet that we could roll out into the bedroom. I ran that for 2hrs right nxt to the bed & froze under 2 additional blankets that were brought up to us - so cold for 2hrs. We’d already turned the room heat up to 73° & despite that, the room was still @ 70° the next morning. There are no slippers, there is an iron & board, there’s no shower gel - just 2 bars of soap. BUT the included breakfast - DELICIOUS!!! Scrambled eggs, sausage, crispy bacon, creamy dreamy grits, biscuits & gravy, breakfast potatoes, they also offered pancakes & waffles that I think were cooked to order. 😋😋😋😋😋😋 Charming, still very cute, but too chilly!

Allowing smoking in the courtyard next to guest rooms was the only negative part of our experience during the stay. The home is lovely, our room was spacious, comfortable, and clean. The grounds are beautiful and breakfast was good. It was nice to be within walking distance to restaurants. The sleeping porch was our favorite part of the room; however, the manager’s decision to allow smoking on the patio prevented us from enjoying it. With almost 5 beautifully manicured acres, it would be nice if they could provide a smoking section away from other guests and the rooms.

As I learned during my stay, The Duke Mansion's primary focus is events; individual guests are secondary. There is no real space outside of your bedroom for your use -- no restaurant, no kiosk, no sitting areas. There is one 'refreshment area', consisting of a water dispenser, Keurig machine, and sofa/chair. This area could also be used by event attendees, so frankly, it was hard not to feel like an intruder most of the time. While the exterior of the inn may warrant it's historical designation, there's nothing I could see about the interior that meets the standard. It's been repurposed so often (e.g. condos), that anything of interest seems lost. In 1915 when the mansion was built, my room would have been given to the companion or the bachelor. It was dingy, had a fraying carpet, some stains, older, worn furniture for atmosphere, and a Hilton-like bathroom. I saw inside some other rooms that looked better so spending more $$$$ may lead to nicer furnishings. To glam up the experience, the bed & bedding were very comfortable, as were the robe and towels. Breakfast was also very good, but not surprisingly (at this point) served in what appeared to be another meeting room. The staff was very friendly but charged the wrong rate, which took 2 days to resolve. The "fitness studio" seemed like a converted storage room and smelled. Overall, a disappointing experience. Be sure to read the FAQs but still take some of it with a grain of salt. I'll conclude by adding "poor WIFI".