Stonehouse Bed & Breakfast — Hotel in Harpers Ferry

Okay, so first of all, manage your expectations. The Stonehouse B&B was built in 1839. This means the plumbing is quirky and the house itself is a tad crooked in a few places. It's in very good condition, but this IS an old house. This also means it is not, and I do mean not wheelchair accessible.||So, to the review itself:||Overview: As mentioned, this is an old house, but it's very nicely presented, put together, and cared for. The main floor has a lounge that's open to guests and while they don't allow you to use the kitchen, they DO let you use the ice machine and store stuff in the fridge (make sure to bring some way to label food if you think you might be doing this). At some point, likely when the property was converted to a B&B, a large multi-layer deck was added at the rear. One level of it is available to guests at all times. Climate control is good, especially for an old house like that...at least in the summer. The host is not very chatty, although the breakfast cook is. And when I did catch him he seemed very nice. Good or bad depending on your preferences. Also, this is a "low frills" B&B. Don't expect chocolates on check in or anything like that. Do expect a decent level of comfort, though.||Location: Can't be beat. Literally. It's the only B&B in the Lower Town, it's a block or so from the center of the park and street museum. It's steps from a good restaurant and doors from another. However! It is also very close to the train station. Part of why Harpers Ferry was built is because it's on a nice pass through the Shenandoahs. That hasn't changed. There are trains. There are trains in the middle of the night. They sound like they're coming in. If this isn't something you're used to dealing with, it's going to interrupt your sleep. But it's worth it for being close to everything and if you are coming in by train, it's perfect.||Room: We stayed in the Top Floor room, which is the cheapest. The rooms are all different, but don't have cutesy names like some B&Bs. The Top Floor room is otherwise known as the attic. In fact, my reaction on seeing it was "We're in the garret." I didn't see much of the other rooms, although I did note that one of them did not have a true en suite bathroom. One of the more expensive ones has a private balcony.||The Top Floor room is, as mentioned, the attic...and it's cheaper because of the extra stairs and sloping ceiling. I would not recommend choosing this particular room if you are unusually tall. It's also somewhat low on natural light. I suspect it was originally quarters for a servant or two (or...yeah, I didn't want to think about those servants). The closet is a niche in the wall with a curtain. The bathroom is small, but just fine. No tub, just a small shower. No counter space, but there was enough shelf space in the shower for two people's toiletries. There were also provided toiletries, but I'm scent sensitive and avoid hotel toiletries when I can, so can't speak to their quality. We were able to use the linen shelf to put the stuff on that I would normally put on a counter, but it's bare wood...I recommend putting down a towel or similar rather than resting your toothbrush on it directly.||The bed was very comfortable. However, the downside to this room did become apparent. Because heat rises, this room is apparently a hot spot. The owners successully brought down the temperature with supplemental cooling...the temperature was fine. However, said supplemental cooling takes the form of A. A loud window unit that randomly cuts in during the night and B. A ceiling fan that sounded like a demented cicada. The latter, at least, is easy to tune out. Add in the TRAINS and I wished I'd brought a pair of earplugs. (Don't worry, I did in fact get enough sleep. It's not that bad, but I do recommend earplugs unless you're used to these various noises). Also, on the noise front, the website warns about noise from the street outside. There was no significant noise from the street outside. It's pretty quiet traffic-wise and if there were hoards of roaring drunks coming out of the pub with the 100 item beer list, they were either insulated out or didn't come our way. Street noise, not a problem.||Breakfast||Breakfast was solid. It's standard American, but did come with good Appalachian sausage every day...the rest varied at the whim of the cook. Breakfast seating is a bit weird. There's one large table in the kitchen or you can sit outside. I suggest getting there slightly early so you can have your free choice of locations...of course, that doesn't work when everyone does it. By the way, if she makes the berry compote, don't sleep in on it.||Overall, this is a long review to say this is a cozy old house in a great location, but you might want to bring earplugs. Not...

We stopped in on a Sunday and oh boy parking is crazy in Harpers Ferry. We were lucky and had a spot at this B&B, but friends that joined us spent 45 minutes looking for something. There is a shuttle to a lot at the National Park, but it stops running at 5pm, and then it would have been a 2 mile walk, 43 min according to google. We were very thankful to have our reserved spot here. We were even able to park here before check-in as we lucked out and the previous parties had already left. The public area of the B&B is really cool and well decorated. There is plenty of seating and an assortment of games to play if you needed something to do besides look at the awesome views of Harpers Ferry. When we checked in the owners were not there, but had a nice system for us to gain access. We did a last minute reservation on Friday evening for Sunday evening and were very happy they were able to accommodate us. So many B&B's do not seem to have 1 night reservations, so this was very nice. We stayed in The Top Floor room which was much larger then I expected being on the top floor. There were two dormers in the room so you can see both sides of the property, one had the A/C unit, which were were thankful to have in August. We were a little worried about a window unit keeping us cool on the top floor, but it had no issue at all. There is a small en-suite bathroom which we were thankful to have in top floor room as well. In the morning we had the chance to meet one of the owners during breakfast. Extremely nice guy! The prices were also...

I usually do not write reviews, and I should have read the reviews about the top-floor room at the Stonehouse, but I didn't. The Stonehouse is a great location, and there were three parking spots, and we had one with the top floor room. We arrived, and the owner left pertinent information on a sheet of paper taped to the front door; he was not there. The entry area was large, with a kitchen in the back. Our room was on the top floor, so we went right up the stairs. The room was dirty. The corners were filthy with grime and dust, and the rug looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. I sat at the desk, and the back of the chair gave way and was broken and unstable. The receptacle in the bathroom didn't work, nor did the plumbing. The toilet immediately backed up, and the plumber's friend was broken and obviously had seen its best days. The shower had little to no water pressure, and the bedsheets were stained to top everything off. I have no problem staying in old historic homes, and I've stayed in a few interesting places in South and Central America and was happy to have a place to rest my head, but I was not expecting this in Harpers Ferry for $160. The room was horrible and disgusting. It didn't have to be that way. Please clean the room, use some elbow grease, find an electrician and fix the outlets, spend a little money and get a chair, but most of all, GET a plumber for the toilet and shower, and if the Stonehouse can't accommodate guests for the top floor room because of water pressure, don't...