I spent the first week of the New Year laying to rest my grandmother, who lived to be 87 years old. Joyce McNeal, of Bluefield, W.Va., passed just before Christmas, leaving behind a small family, including two grandsons who fondly remember summers in the West Virginia mountains and small-town hospitality.
I got to experience some of that small-town hospitality when I visited Bluefield this week when I stayed at the Baker’s Hill Inn, a 110-year-old home turned into a bed and breakfast by Lisa Sydnor. It was my first stay at a bed and breakfast.
A former cop bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Sydnor opened the inn 10 years ago, transforming the three-level home’s bedrooms, dining, and living areas into a pristine getaway from everyday life.
The rooms each have large beds and bathrooms and look out over what was once one of the busiest cities in the U.S. — a place on the Virginia/West Virginia border where coal miners and railroaders traveled to spend their cash in rows of department stores that blossomed about the same time the house was built, through the 1960s.
Today, the inn sits in south Bluefield, where other homes built by millionaires are still well kept. In contrast, many department store buildings in the city’s downtown area are marked for demolition.
Since Covid, Sydnor says there’s been a renewed interest in the city, many of whom are Californians who work anywhere and are looking to relocate for cheaper living costs in what is known as “nature’s air-conditioned city.”
Sydnor says there are bidding wars for the stately houses in her neighborhood, something she might take advantage of in the coming years as she looks to retire with her husband to a nearby farm.
Before Sydnor sells the inn and before Californians supplant the locals, I suggest stopping by Bakers Hill when traveling in southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia for an overnight stay to learn about the history of the surrounding area, its natural beauty, and the coal that helped to build this nation.
Bakers Hill is inviting, the delicious breakfast pictured above is always hot, and the conversation with Sydnor is enjoyable.
