- Another beautifully restored destination in Ashe County holds a rich piece of history.

Producer Teresa Litschke takes us to the West Jefferson Hotel, a former railroad inn now meticulously transformed into a venue where historic charm meets modern luxury.

[old-timey jazz music] - [Teresa] In 1915, West Jefferson was nothing more than a railroad stop.

- And it was built specifically to come in here to extract the timber, and this is where the train would refuel.

- [Teresa] It was also the perfect place for visitors to recharge themselves, given that the climate is much cooler than some other places in the state.

- Oh yeah, 20 degrees.

- [Teresa] That's why one of the first buildings in town was a hotel to house all the newly arriving visitors, the West Jefferson Hotel.

- It is the really first and oldest hotel in West Jefferson.

It's 1917.

It founded the town.

- [Teresa] And quickly became a social hub.

- Within this building itself, it had the town's bank.

It had the town's post office.

It had the town's barber shop.

It had the town's cafe, bus station, hotel lobby, police station, and Ashe County's first library.

- [Teresa] The hotel was in business until the 1970s, when the building was converted into office and retail space.

- I remember when I first came to West Jefferson, and I saw the old hotel.

It was unrecognizable as you see it today.

- [Teresa] That's because preservationist Mark Beck purchased the building in 2019, and with his daughter, Lily Memmel, and other family members, restored the building outside and in, turning the once simple railroad hotel into a spectacular boutique hotel.

- [Mark] We have lots of little luxuries.

- [Lily] We have brought this building up to speed with modern amenities.

However, it maintains the historic charm that it always did, having the original hotel doors in the room as barn doors, using the reclaimed wood as the window shutters and as the wainscoting down the hallway.

The original floors are in the room.

So there's a lot of pieces that are worth coming to see here.

- [Teresa] And that's not all.

Boutique hotels are known for the total experience they offer.

Here original works of local artists now grace the grand hallway and parlors.

- And paintings that you'll see nowhere else.

- [Teresa] Along with furniture pieces original to the hotel, and customized toiletries.

- We have our own personal scent here.

We made it ourselves, so you can't buy it anywhere else.

You can expect luxury linens and then other small things like heated tile floors.

- And they come on automatically, and we found out the temperature that works right for your feet when you get up at night is 85 degrees.

It feels great.

- [Lily] And then the bed is really comfortable too.

- Oh my goodness, I had the best sleep ever.

- [Teresa] Many still refer to it as West Jefferson's Old Hotel, but it has all the modern conveniences.

- We have Wi-Fi, TV.

I didn't want to have TVs.

I got outvoted.

- [Teresa] Because Mark wants guests to interact with each other the way they used to.

- The hotel itself has lots of social spaces.

So the original hotel had parlors, and it has this very wide hallway, which acted like a parlor in its day.

- [Teresa] More common areas include both casual and fine dining restaurants like the chef-driven OH, for Old Hotel Restaurant.

- Yeah, so this is our Old Hotel Frites.

We slice potatoes extremely thin.

We cook 'em in heavy cream, and then we compress 'em overnight, and then we deep fry 'em to order.

- [Teresa] There's also an OH bar and even a rooftop bar, all places guests can continue to relax and reconnect like they did in 1917.

- I always hope that it would be a very social place where people connect with other people, and, in fact, that's the way the hotel works.

Everybody becomes friends.

- The West Jefferson Hotel is at 5 West Main Street in West Jefferson.

To book a room or learn more, give them a call at 336-846-3646, or visit their website at westjeffersonhotel.com.