Catherine Ward House Inn

Outstanding, attentive staff and immaculately clean interior.

I really struggled whether or not to give this a four or five star review. If I could give both, which I guess I can when I check the boxes before submitting, I would give the service 5++ stars, the property itself 4 stars, and I honestly don’t know how I would rate the location. Sooo, The Service: This property allows you to check in early, which is super convenient. We were immediately greeted by Sonia, who is a gem. We were given a tour of our room. There are two breakfast time choices, which was nice because sometimes you want to move on with your day and sometimes you want to sleep in. Daily room service was not provided, but they immediately restocked our room when we asked. The staff has struck the right balance with breakfast service. As this is an inn and not a B and B, the owners do not live on the property, nor do they come and hover uncomfortably. The young ladies doing breakfast answered all our questions and engaged in conversation at the right times. They even offered to pack a to-go breakfast when we had an early departure. The staff is top-notch. The Room: There were some quirks and minor issues with our room. The tv is inside a mirror, which creates a glare when watching. It took a long time to get hot water. The hot-cold are opposite of what is labeled on the bar sink. There were two cozy window nooks in the room, which would have been wonderful for reading, but the only thing in them were standard dining room chairs. The window AC unit is not covered in the winter, allowing cold air to creep in. It was a good thing we had a fireplace. The bathroom faucet had a rapid drip, which we reported at check-out. Good things about the room were the cleanliness, spacious closet and shower and very comfortable mattress and pillows. The mattress and pillows are dealbreakers for me. The Location: The inn is in the Victorian District. It is a long walk to River St. and to most other attractions, except for Forsyth Park and the Mercer-Williams House. If you are in good shape, it’s doable. There is also free bus a block away that is handy in the daytime, but it doesn’t run late in the evening, so you will need a car or ride service to get to the River St. entertainment area for dinner. I would not walk that far after dark. Good things about the location (and the reasons we chose it) are that it’s quiet, it’s two blocks from a large grocery store, and it has FREE PARKING. Most of the other historic properties we looked at had terrible parking options. One other thing that made me choose this property is the cancellation policy. While not as flexible as a chain hotel, it is much more forgiving than the other historic properties. This is important when traveling in the winter, when bad weather and illness are more common. Overall, I would recommend this hotel, but would suggest a car unless you’re comfortable with Uber. We didn’t have any trouble using the parking garages near River St.

Overall good