On our anniversary this year, my wife and I decided to visit Lake Lure, North Carolina.  It is a nice little lake town in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains.  We’ve stayed there before, but this time we decided to stay at the Lake Lure Inn.

It appears that the Lake Lure Inn is mostly known as the location of the filming of Dirty Dancing.

For the Dirty Dancing fans out there, they have Johnny’s Cabin and Baby’s Bungalow for rent.  I’m not a huge fan, so we opted for a room in the main hotel.  In my book, this was a great decision.  The original Inn was built in 1927 and still has the feel of this earlier period of Americana.  I love historical places, and walking into the main hotel was like walking into the past.

The hallways are wide and are decorated more like a home than a hotel.  I could imagine families hanging out together in the evening back in the days before television and game consoles.  Even with all this ambiance to take in, the most shocking thing about our stay was being handed an actual key for our room.  I’m old enough to have stayed in hotels that used actual room keys, but not for some time.  Actually using a key to unlock our room was the final touch that made it feel like we had stepped back in time.

The price was comparable to a more modern hotel, but the experience was priceless.