House Tour 2011
House C - The Inn At Mount Vernon Farm
The Inn at Mount Vernon is a recently opened B&B situated in the oldest house on this year’s tour. The original house was built in 1827, and a major addition was added in 1883. Changes and improvements over the years since have not changed the timeless look of the home as it sits above the barns on the Miller property. The home of countless Miller families since then , with the portraits of many of them prominently displayed on the walls, the house is furnished with many antique family pieces, as well as new furnishings which enhance the elegant country look of the home. Cliff Miller, the youngest in the long line of Millers, has been the driving force behind the recent changes, and is shepherding the development of the bed and breakfast.
“Poplar John” Miller (born 1802) built the original home. His grandfather Heinrich Muller had emigrated to Germantown, PA from Germany in 1750, and eventually made his way down to Madison County, VA. John Byron Miller, the fifth son of “Poplar John”, inherited the home and lived in it with his wife Rebecca Smith. Their portraits are above the mantle in the living room. His release papers from a Union jail are preserved in the dining room, and his grave is located in the family graveyard uphill from the home.
John Clifford Miller (born 1871) was the second son of John Byron Miller. The portraits of Clifford and his wife Mary Lucile Nelson are on the south wall of the living room. John Clifford build the large dairy barn (considered at the time to be the largest east of the Mississippi), and planted the apple orchards across the road. Portraits of Mary Lucile’s parents are in the living room and the music room.
There are five bedrooms in the house, two on the main floor and three upstairs, and all of them offer vistas of the sunrise, sunsets, mountains or woods. All have brand new bathrooms, each more elegant than the last, with clawfooted tubs, walk in showers, and granite counters. The upgrading of two original sleeping porches has provided a suite combination for one of the upstairs bedrooms. And the old carved wooden decorative moldings of the porches have been ingeniously turned into two headboards for one of the bedrooms. The traditional dining room and kitchen are below the main level. The kitchen is new and shiny, and the 1827 original hearth provides a wonderful contrast to the modern appliances. Five windows light up the large table in the center of the room, and smaller tables in the corners.
“Temperance Cabin” a log cabin just beside the main house, is being readied for occupancy as well, and it will provide a very private setting for guests. Other outside buildings, of stone and wood, such as the old smokehouse, well, and well house, add to the nineteenth century look. The gardens and surroundings have just been completely redone with some new brick paths to complete the old ones.
