Pleasant Lane Acres Bed and Breakfast
Edgefield, South Carolina
The innkeepers of Pleasant Lane Acres have spent 10 years restoring their three-guest-room bed and breakfast, which was constructed as a two-room dwelling for slaves in the early 1800s and was enlarged by a later owner. On its acres of fields and woods, the property provides a pond for bream and bass fishing and several walking paths. Dogs rescued by the innkeepers stay in kennels when guests are present, and separate kennels are available for guests' pets.
Ashley Inn Bed and Breakfast
Charleston, South Carolina
Built in 1832, this bed and breakfast includes six guest rooms and one suite, all with antique furnishings, and a carriage house with two bedrooms, 1 and 1/2 baths, a living room, and a kitchen/dining area. Once converted into a small apartment complex, the property was in disrepair when sold in 1992, and restoration work on the main house and slave quarters lasted nearly a year. Today the Ashely Inn is known for its gourmet breakfast, which features Low Country specialties such as savory sausage souffle with basil eggs and French puff muffins, or Southern grits casserole with white cream gravy.
Virginia
Edgewood Plantation
Charles City, Virginia
During the Civil War, Confederate generals who were camped at nearby Berkeley Plantation used the third floor of this bed and breakfast as a lookout post, and area residents used its living room as a church. Edgewood Plantation, an 1849 example of Carpenter's Gothic architecture, offers eight guest rooms, six in the main house and two in the former slave quarters. The estate includes a swimming pool, formal gardens and a wooded stream and is available for group tours, weddings, Victorian tea parties, meetings and banquets.
Prospect Hill Plantation Inn
Charlottesville, Virginia
The Sheehan family, innkeepers of this 18th-century plantation on 50 acres of manicured grounds with a pool and gardens, invites guests to join them for a wine reception and five-course dinner as part of the experience at this bed and breakfast. In addition to five guest rooms in the manor house, there are the boys' cabin, circa 1699, the oldest building on the grounds; the 1720s summer kitchen cottage; the 1740s overseer's cottage; the 1790 slave quarters, with two rooms; the 1850s carriage house suite; the groom's quarters, above the carriage house; and Sanco Pansy's cottage, originally the residence of a former slave.
The Quarters
Charlottesville, Viriginia
Built between 1815 and 1830 as a slave house according to the Associated Press article, The Quarters offers one private upstairs suite, containing a sitting room with a double sleep sofa and fireplace, a king-bedded room, a single-bedded room, and a bath with a footed Victorian tub. It is decorated with fine art and antiques and is within walking distance of the University of Virginia.
Caledonia Farm - 1812 Bed and Breakfast
Washington, Virginia
Restoration of this Federal-style home, with its 2-foot thick walls of native fieldstone, 32-foot long beams and original mantels, paneled windows and wide pine floors, was completed in 1965. Located on a working beef cattle farm adjacent to Shenandoah National Park, this bed and breakfast consists of a two-bedroom suite on the second floor and a summer kitchen suite, which is connected to the house by a breezeway and was originally the dwelling of six house slaves according to the Associated Press article. With a view of Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains, guests can soak in the hot tub, take a bike or hayride, play lawn games, or do some bird-watching.
South Africa
Jan Harmsgat Guest Farm
Swellendam, South Africa
A 2-hour drive from Cape Town, this guest house is part of a working wine farm with a pool in the Klein Karoo winelands region. Its four en-suite rooms and adjoining lounge are located in the original slave quarters of the farm, which was established in 1723, and several rooms feature expansive mountain views. There is also a private cottage accommodating up to four guests at the property's edge, about a 5-minute drive from the main house.
