The Historic Fairfield Inn
About the inn
The Fairfield Inn was an historic hotel building located on Fairfield Lake near US Highway 64 in Sapphire Valley, Jackson County, North Carolina. It was built in 1896-1898, and consisted of a 2 1/2-story main block with two rear wings.
The Queen Anne style frame building featured three massive singled gables, hipped dormers, a three-story corner turret, elliptical windows, and a one-story lakeside verandah. The hotel had 100 rooms.
The building was originally built in 1896 [by the Lake Toxaway Hotel Group] near a former gold mine on Lake Fairfield and added to in the early 1900s.
It stood on Lake Fairfield near US 64 until 1986. With only minor renovations over the years (see below) a fire in 1986 exposed the fact the hotel was unsafe and it was demolished later that year. It was a sad loss for Sapphire Valley. (source: Wikipedia / SVHS)
Minor Renovations: When the Howerdd Family purchased the property in 1954, they installed an elevator purchased from a grand hotel in Palm Beach and reduced or eliminated closets in order to install private baths.
Closing in the side porch to create the original Library Lounge, covering the back porch to expand the dining area, kitchen upgrades to stay current, and minor painting and carpet would be the only other changes the Inn would see.
what happened to the inn
Please visit this page 1970s - 1990's to learn what happened to the 'grand lady'
Sapphire Valley Inn | Jennings Estate
1896 Fairfield Inn Brochure
original brochure - updated for 1986...
"In the midst of a glorious mountainous region stands Fairfield Inn, on a hard surfaced road seventy miles northwest of Asheville, North Carolina known as Route 64.
This Inn is in the heart of the sapphire country, beautified with numerous waterfalls, excess vegetation, with many varieties of wild flowers, that make these mountains the most picturesque in the world, and geologist will tell you - the oldest.
Twenty miles of mountain streams in an estate of twenty thousand acres belong to the Inn and furnish an abundance of good trout fishing.
The Inn itself faces Fairfield Lake, around the edges of which grow flowering water lilies, which makes it a most beautiful spot, where you may enjoy rowing, black bass fishing and swimming in water that is clear, clean and invigorating."
