Questions, Questions, Questions
Our guests at the Simmons-Bond Inn Bed & Breakfast are wonderful and very inquisitive of the house, the town, and my wife Tanya and me. This time around, I’d like to post and answer some of the common questions that we get as innkeepers of this fabulous home.
Q. How old is the house?
A. 115 years old. It was completed in 1903, built by E. Levi Prater for James & Antionette Simmons.
Q. What type of wood is throughout the house?
A. The detailed, carved wood in the foyer, parlor, and dining room is all quarter-sawn oak. James Simmons was a lumberman and furnituremaker, and his skill at woodworking is evident just about everywhere you look.
Q. Is the house haunted?
A. Not to my knowledge, but the occasional anomaly pops up from time to time. Guests have spoken of seeing apparitions, and I noticed a small rocking chair that was moved during the night several months ago. Maybe “Mammy” Simmons is just checking up on things.
Q. How long have you owned the Bed & Breakfast?
A. Tanya and I purchased the home in October 2017. It was run continuously as a Bed & Breakfast for about 20 years prior to us.
Q. What did you and Tanya do before you became innkeepers?
A. For three years right before our purchase, we owned a dessert franchise in Cumming, GA. Before that, we were both in the medical IT industry, both in the software and hardware sides, working for other companies and eventually owning our own IT business.
Q. What do you like best about owning a Bed & Breakfast?
A. Unequivocally, it is the people that we meet as guests in our home. We’ve met folks from all over the country as well as from England, Germany, China, Poland, and Sweden. It’s a great way to get to know and learn about people from all over. And owning this business in Toccoa has been fabulous. We even got to host actors and production crew from a major movie that was recently filmed right here in our city.
Q. What’s the hardest part about your business?
A. Probably the daily maintenance and upkeep of a 115-year-old Victorian home. But it is an honor to be able to be the caretakers of such a historic building and keep the legacy of early 1900s Toccoa and the Simmons-Bond families.
Q. Do you and Tanya live in the house?
A. Yes. We occupy the first-floor suite which was originally the ladies’ parlor and the men’s parlor and smoking room. Tanya and I felt it was important to live in the Bed & Breakfast for the service, comfort, and convenience of our guests. They know we’re here if they need anything during their stay, and we get to interact with our guests too.
We love getting to know our guests and we hope they enjoy learning about us as well. The Simmons-Bond Inn Bed & Breakfast is a fun, family-style, friendly lodging choice in Toccoa, GA. Come see us soon.
