Historic Inns of Annapolis
Annapolis, Maryland
When George Washington was traveling from Mount Vernon, Virginia, to Philadelphia during the American Revolution, he often stopped at the Maryland Inn to eat, to rest, to socialize — and to have his horse groomed.
The three boutique hotels that make up the Historic Inns of Annapolis are awash in history. The original Governor Calvert House dates back to 1695 and was home to Gov. Benedict Leonard Calvert, who held office from 1727 to 1731. The Maryland Inn has hosted U.S. presidents, legislators and foreign dignitaries since the late 1700s. The Robert Johnson House is a grand brick home that was built in 1773.
The three properties are within a five-minute walk of each other around State Circle, which rings the Maryland State House, and are operated as one hotel, Bednarsky said. The 51-room Governor Calvert House has 8,800 square feet of flexible meeting space. The 2,400-square-foot Governor’s Hall can be split into three rooms, all of which open onto a terrace. An 1,800-square-foot atrium and prefunction area divides the hall from five conference rooms.
The 44-room Maryland Inn has another 2,800 square feet of function space, the largest of which is the inn’s original 1,000-square-foot ballroom. The 29-room Robert Johnson House does not have meeting space. Hotel staff also provide historic tours of the properties to meeting and event groups.
www.historicinnsofannapolis.com
Newberry Firehouse Conference Center
Newberry, South Carolina
Yes, the Newberry Firehouse Conference Center has the original fire pole, and, no, guests may not try it out. The firehouse in Newberry, South Carolina, was built in the 1890s, but the Works Progress Administration expanded and renovated it in an Art Deco style in the 1930s. The building was decommissioned in the 1980s.
In 2005, a $2.3 million renovation was launched to transform the two-story, cream-colored building into a state-of-the-art conference and event center. The center opened in 2007 with a ceremonial fire hose uncoupling in place of a ribbon cutting.
On the ground floor, the original firehouse doors anchor the lobby, which sits in front of the center’s largest space, a 1,680-square-foot function room. Upstairs, where sleeping quarters once housed firefighters, there are four conference rooms, including two that can be combined into a 730-square-foot space, as well as a boardroom and a small lobby.
“We’ll still occasionally have an old retired fireman come in and want to walk through the building,” said facility manager Suzanne Elston. “They’ll walk up to the [second] floor and say, ‘You know, my headboard was right here.’”
The renovation maintained much of the building’s historic detail, but the pole had to be moved, so it is no longer functional. The staff also give groups tours of the building. A highlight is in the basement, where the firehouse once also housed the city jail. In a former jail cell, there’s a little patch of graffiti where a prisoner scratched his name, the year [1974] and what he was in for [armed robbery].
“It’s the history behind the building that attracts people,” Elston said.
