SUMMERVILLE, SC October 18, 2011 — Woodlands Inn charms right from the start. The arrival is the first indication you’re about to enter a sanctuary. Guests maneuver Parsons Road, a winding, graveled drive sided with tall pines and magnolia trees.
You may barely return the bellman’s greeting because first site of the elegant, bold-brick-and-white-columned mansion is so riveting. Only about 30 minutes outside Charleston, this place feels like the proverbial step back in time.
Inside, you quickly delve into both a Southern experience and a luxury one, from peach-infused iced tea at check-in to a jacket-and-tie gourmet dinner in The Dining Room.
Living room at Woodlands Inn, Summerville, SC.
Woodlands is a place of quiet seclusion, where you can connect not only with your partner but all the surrounding nature in magnolia-shaded gardens overflowing with azaleas and camellias or along pine-needle studded paths.
The manager calls it "the perfect place to catch up on life." You may define it as Southern tradition and hospitality at its finest.
Dating to 1906, the modern-day Woodlands Inn features 19 restored guestrooms - seven of them in the original house - featuring contemporary amenities such as working fireplaces, flat-screen TVs, BOSE CD stereos, and lavish baths with steam-heated towel racks, Jacuzzis, and marble showers with rain-heads.
The Woodlands Inn is one of only six hotels in the United States to earn the Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamond awards for both lodging and dining. New since our visit is chef Chef Sean Diehl, and the latest accolade: Fodor’s has named this a Top 10 Restaurant in America.
The Dining Room, Woodlands Inn, Summerville, SC.
The Mansion’s History
The inn’s story begins with Robert Parsons, a railroad baron from Pennsylvania who bought 100 acres of land right outside Summerville to build his family's winter home. Parsons, for whom the roadway leading to the inn is named, invited his Northern friends down for visits, thus exposing the area to expansion and development.
Charlestonians were aware that the pine forests and elevated land (70 feet) around the Summerville area provided a refuge from the summer heat and malaria outbreaks of the Lowcountry. In 1888 incidentally, the International Congress of Physicians in Paris declared Summerville one of the two healthiest spots in the world for people with pulmonary disorders.
In 1939, the Parsons family sold the property to Alain White, a botanist and world-known chess expert. The home served as a hospice for his ailing sister May, and during World War II as an entertainment venue for soldiers.
Later, Mrs. Ruth Gadsden was bequeathed the property, and she lived in the house for the rest of her life.
In 1986, the house became the Gadsden Manor Inn. Joe Whitmore of New York bought it in 1993, and began 18 months of restoration and reconstruction. Fellow New Yorker David Eskell-Briggs, a noted furniture and interior designer, was commissioned to decorate the inn, his work reflecting his English heritage and travels to India and Jamaica. Woodlands Inn opened in May 1995.
Salamander Hospitality purchased the property in 2006 and has did even more renovation, including adding a casual dining offering called Pines. As General Manager Bob Seigle pointed out, there is no place left in the inn that has not been upgraded.
Salamander still manages the property, but the new owner, a lawyer from Charleston, is Johnny Linton.
Grand sweeping stairs and entryway at Woodlands Inn.
Today, along with the mansion accommodations, there are tennis courts, a secluded pool, a gazebo (the site of weddings at times), and the Pavillion, often used for business meeting and receptions for up to 200.
The manager notes the entire inn can be booked. “Some (corporations) prefer to take all 19 rooms and feel totally into the setting, knowing that all of our attention will be on their needs. We make all our guests feel special — that’s what we are known for — but if the whole place is booked by one group, can you imagine how much we can offer?”
Staying in one of the inn’s executive suites just steps from the award-winning restaurant, you’ll see first-hand just how much Woodlands Inn has to offer – from the romance of the fireplace to the complimentary M&Ms on the coffee table to one of the prettiest turn-down services ever — oh, a plush four-poster bed. Enough said.
If You’re Going: Set amidst 42 acres of parkland grounds, Woodlands Inn is a restored 1906 classical revival mansion at 125 Parsons Rd. Summerville, SC 29483. Call (800) 774-9999 or visit www.woodlandsinn.com.
Kathy M. Newbern and her husband, J.S. Fletcher, have been producing travel stories on assignment since 1994. They are award-winning members of the Society of American Travel Writers and operate YourNovel.com, their personalized romance novel business based in Raleigh, N.C., where they let you can star in your own romance. They also operate the award-winning travel site, YourSpaReport.com.
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