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.