One of the great pleasures of operating a Bed and Breakfast in an old home is to be a part of the living history of the building. The Sully Mansion was built in a private home in 1890 and as New Orleans is a city which treasures its past it has not been too difficult to discover the broad outlines of the house’s past. We have been aided in our inquiry by our neighbor who is the great great niece of the original family who commissioned the house to be built by Thomas Sully. We knew that the home functioned as rooming house in the late 1930’s when the remaining unmarried daughter took in boarders (hence the retro mailboxes by our front door). What we did not know until last week was these rooms were turned into small apartments in the late 1950’s.
Enter Charalotte Stubbs from Frisco Texas who brought her mother Lucy Cox and her daughter for a surprise stay with us. Lucy , her husband and Charalotte 
dad lived in what is now the Royal Room when it was a studio apartment in the early 1960s. What a wonderful afternoon we had reliving memories, trying to place where the stove was (by the dressing room linen closet in turns out!) Charalotte recalled drawing on the flowered wallpaper while her dad feigned sleep. Lucy told us about the charming Spanish gentleman who lived down the hall and had a thing for the women who lived around back who he eventually married! It was just fascinating trying to imagine how the house looked back then and I was so humbled to think of all the stories which have taken place between our walls! Guy and I have touched every inch of this property as we restore, repair and preserve this beautiful building and it becomes a richer journey when we get to meet the faces and learn a little of the lives who make up the past of the Sully Mansion.
Back to school
A Summer Wedding