#119 Village Inn & Pub St. Simons Island

Nice Hotel in Georgia...with an Odd Name

We came across the website titled, "Village Inn & Pub" when searching for lodging ideas along the Georgia coast. The very name made me imagine a sweet little village, where we could check in at the local pub and curl up in an old leather chair for the night!  Of course the words on the hotel sign actually said,  Inn & Suites... playing down that pub part.

Village and Pub?

I guess some might call the town of St. Simons a village, but our complex of hotel buildings was also sort of quaint, like a village. As for the pub, it was a cozy bar built inside the old main house, which also held the office.  It was originally a beach cottage, built in 1930. The rest of the hotel is new, but built to blend with the old style. 
​
Oasis

The live oaks and palms shaded the main house and created a cozy, cool setting for hanging out...

..and the pool looked  inviting as well, as I looked down from the iron balcony.  The only problem was, it was blustery cold on January 20th, when we checked in.  No sitting around the pool for us.

Glowing in the Evening

At night the hotel complex looked even more charming, with Spanish moss waving above the pool and the palm trunks wrapped in lights. When we returned from dinner in town, the chill forced us to scurry past the pool to climb the stairs to our room.

How could I feel so cold, when everything about the appearance seemed balmy!

The Thomas Spalding Room

All 28 rooms were designed a little differently.  We didn't have one of the suites or balcony rooms, but like the others, ours had its own name plate.  Our room (on the right) was named in honor of Thomas Spalding who was a signer of the Constitution.  Mr. Spalding also happened to be the son of an important local family on the island in the 1700's.  

Best of Both Worlds

I like old hotels, but sometimes it's a pretty sweet deal to stay in a guest room that is new, but built to look old. The room felt classic with crown molding and plantation shutters, while everything smelled and felt fresh from wall colors to the linens.  The newness of our room also meant we could expect no hauntings by Mr. Spaulding.  Oh well, he didn't sound very interesting, anyway.

Lots of Light

I do love windows.  We even had a window on the top half of the door.  The wall windows were designed like the windows I grew up with... the ones that slid up and stayed open all summer long in Iowa. Again, I wish the weather had been warmer.

Soaps and Chocolate

The bathroom soaps smelled lovely and the seashell chocolates on the bed... even lovelier!

What About the Pub?

After 6, we left our cozy room for the authentically old part of the hotel, which holds the office and The Pub.  The fireplace seating was taken up and so were the stools at the mahogany bar, which was imported from Europe. But we enjoyed some happy hour drinks, seated back in the sunroom area where we could keep an eye on the odd mix of pub guests.  Locals seemed to be a big part of the small crowd, so it sort of felt like we'd intruded on a private party, until we struck up a conversation with some other guests, traveling from Michigan.

Morning

In the morning I grabbed a seat by the fireplace (which is original to the cottage) and sipped my coffee.  There was a decent spread of breakfast treats. I also got to do more people watching.  I observed a "gentleman" slug down a little coffee, while he waited for his cab. 

I had witnessed his arrival the night before, when a "friend" assisted him into a chair before speaking to the innkeeper about getting the man a room.  The drunk man looked pretty harmless, like a guy who had enjoyed one too many cocktails on the golf course.  But I was still thankful they did not place him in the room next to ours.  When the cab arrived, the gentleman thanked the hotel host for all her help. She answered, "I'll pray for you." with a hint of sarcasm. Hmmm?

What's Notable?

I didn't get a good photo of the trees on the hotel property, but to me they were the most dramatic and notable piece of this hotel complex. (My photo was taken elsewhere on the island)    

Our room was comfy and fine and the pub was curious, but it's the live oak trees with their dripping moss that made the place!  Evidently, the couple who built the hotel around the original cottage, took great care by not cutting even a limb of the beautiful trees. Even the parking area was unpaved to prevent root damage. How I wish I'd just bundled in a blanket and enjoyed a cup of coffee underneath those trees.  The most notable thing about our stay, was the thing we hardly got to enjoy. The trees!