The Grand House - 5BD & 3 BA

The Big Family House, aka The Grand House, is the perfect place for your family to gather together to make memories! We would be honored for you to bring the entire family & make this your home away from home! The home is spacious, yet cozy & guests love that Mainstreet is just a hop, skip, and jump away!

From the front porch of The Grand House, you can see Fort Payne’s City Park in all its lit-up Christmas glory! Only 1 block away is Main Street and the city park. Great shopping, restaurants, and the famous Fort Payne coffee shop called The Spot, are less than 2 blocks away. The Grand House is only 8 miles from DeSoto State Park and 7.5 miles from Little River Canyon National Preserve! There are nearby museums, parks and antique malls, and you can explore all of the beautiful waterfalls, forests, wildlife, and native plants offered by Lookout Mountain in Alabama! Renew, refresh, and be restored!

Historically the Stanley-McCurdy-Starling Home, built in 1890, The Grand House is located on Grand Avenue in Historic Downtown Fort Payne. The Grand House is an ongoing restoration project of love by the retreat property owners for their own family and Guests :) When you step onto the front porch of The Grand House, you will know your peaceful retreat has begun. Enjoy the views as well as the beautiful carpentry and architecture very common for larger homes such as this one built in the late 1800s. You may enter the home through the door on the front porch (4th Street side).

Once inside, you will be standing in the grand foyer. The foyer will lead you into the connecting rooms in the home, and it truly sets the tone for the rest of the home with the beautiful chandelier, wood-fired stove in the corner, and white staircase leading upstairs. The original oak floors are throughout the home. The wood stove in the grand foyer may be used by our Guests, and it definitely heats the home while in use, even though there is also central heat and air throughout.

Beside the grand foyer is the main living area with a large Roku TV. There is Wi-Fi so that you can stream your favorite shows for movie nights and plenty of comfortable seating for times when you just want to gather and spend time with friends and family.

Through the living area, there is a spacious primary bedroom with a king bed, known as "The Grand Room." This room has a large window that overlooks the front porch and Grand Avenue. There is a private workspace with a desk for our corporate Guests or those who would like some privacy and a quiet place to attend a zoom meeting.

Back in the grand foyer, you will see there is an adjoining full bathroom offering many accessible features! There is a separate laundry area inside the bathroom with a full-size washer and dryer, as well as an iron and ironing board.

Another full bathroom is also downstairs with a large vanity as well as an antique, porcelain claw foot soaking tub and shower.

Next to that bathroom is the entrance into the large dining room. There is a dining table with seating for 8, and back in the grand foyer is a high-top table with seating for 4.

Through the dining room, there is a full kitchen with custom cabinetry to compliment the home. The spacious kitchen is still in development for exciting future design plans. It is equipped to help families prepare their favorite meals together. Through the kitchen, you can exit through a back door into the large fenced backyard.

Back in the grand foyer, take the white staircase upstairs to find the remaining four bedrooms and second full bathroom. At the top of the stairs is another foyer. In 1890, this would have been known as the “fainting room.” A fainting room was an area, common in the Victorian era, which typically contained fainting couches that lined the walls. Today, however, we just consider this another foyer connecting the rooms upstairs :)

At the top of the stairs, you will see the second spacious bedroom - a Family Room that sleeps up to 4 guests! In this room, there are 2 queen beds and USB charging stations in the bedside table. There is an adjoining reading nook that our Guests love! Another 40” Roku TV is in this room, and in the corner, there is a desk and chair for another great choice of a private workspace. A very large closet adjoins the room.

Next to the second bedroom, there is a third full bathroom that has a tub/shower combo as well as a large sink and vanity made from a beautiful antique dresser.

Continuing through the upstairs foyer, there is a third bedroom to the left, perfect for a family or group of BFFs, as this room can also sleep up to 4 guests! There is a Full bed and a Trundle bed with two twin beds. A large walk-in closet adjoins the third bedroom.

Back in the foyer, and directly across, there is a fourth spacious bedroom with a queen bed. This room overlooks the large, fenced backyard, and there is a large walk-in closet adjoining this fourth bedroom.

Finally, at the far end of the foyer, you’ll see an entrance into the fifth spacious bedroom with a king bed, and it’s known as "The Alabama Room." Walk over to the look out of the large window, and you'll see how it got its name. You don’t just have magnificent views of Lookout Mountain, but when you look down, you'll see the Alabama Band Statues by Fort Payne's own City Park :) There are two chairs, a dresser and another 40” Roku TV. Another large walk-in closet adjoins The Alabama Room.

As you will see throughout The Grand House, there is a LOT of space, and because of this, the homeowners have plans for future development and bonus features coming in 2023, so stay tuned and be our guest along the journey :)

In the large fenced backyard, there is a charcoal BBQ grill for your grilling needs, and BBQ tools are kept in the kitchen. The retreat property owners have exciting plans for development and landscaping in the large fenced backyard. For now, there is a picnic table for outdoor dining enjoyment and lots of space for families who love to spend time outdoors :)
Guest access
Once the reservation is complete, and 24 hours before scheduled check-in, Guests will receive access information to the retreat property.