At the private bar, Ballastone Inn's guests enjoy cool fruit-infused refreshment, southern sweet tea, fine wines and craft brew beer.

Southerners have mastered the art of staying cool in the summer, and hospitality demands we share that art with our guests! The Ballastone Inn is the quintessential Southern lodging, so who better to teach visitors our climate coping tricks?

First of all, check out the Ballastone’s architecture. Those thick walls and high ceilings are there for a reason – they kept the earlier, pre-air-conditioning residents cool in summer since 1838! Of course today’s indoor temperatures are tamed by technology, complete with individual controls in each guestroom, but our ancestors knew a thing or two about keeping their cool. (By the way, the garden level rooms are naturally cooler and access the wonderful courtyard directly.)

Next tip: slow down! Linger over your gourmet breakfast. Enjoy a few quiet moments reading in our secluded courtyard. Trade your timetable for an ambling walk. Savannah is best seen at a leisurely pace anyway.

Also, dress accordingly. Summer is not the Savannah season for fancy dress. Opt for something white, or something cotton – let comfort be your guide. Pay special attention to your footwear: go for good strolling shoes and remember that flip-flops probably won’t serve you well on River Street.

Drink up! (Although you will probably want to reserve alcohol for the cooler evenings.) A good Southern hostess knows to keep her guests hydrated, and the Ballastone does just that. There’s always a cooling pitcher classic Southern sweet tea on our bar during the day in summer, in a hand-painted Victorian pitcher, no less. Plus, we serve afternoon tea at 4 p.m. daily, on silver and china. And while you are out and about in Savannah, drink in a little South – more sweet tea (not for nothing is it known as “the house wine of the South,” and each establishment serves it a little differently), maybe a peach-infused version, lemonade, to name a few.

Spend the hottest hours of the day – something like noon to 3 p.m. – in Savannah’s museums, which are cool in more ways than one. And the ultimate cooling experience, dipping one’s toes in the Atlantic Ocean, is an easy 18-mile straight shot from here on Tybee Island beach.

Savannah is a cool place in the summer – if you have friends like the Ballastone!

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Ballastone Inn in Landmark Savannah Historic District featured in May / June 2012 issue.

SAVANNAH Georgia (April 26, 2012) — Guests at Savannah’s famous and fabulous Ballastone Inn long ago discovered that they could get the recipes behind their favorite gourmet breakfast dishes just by asking. A wider audience learned how to make the inn’s Orange Ricotta Pancakes in the May/June (2012) edition of Cooking with Paula Deen Magazine, the signature periodical of the famous Savannah cook and entrepreneur. The publication is on newsstands this week and will be on display through June 18, 2012.

On the heels of that breakfast recipe treat for the cooking public comes the news that the Ballastone is at work on its own cookbook, which will be available early this summer. Innkeeper Jennifer Salandi isn’t ready to release many details yet, but the cookbook will feature the inn’s most popular breakfast dishes, along with the treats that make the afternoon tea so special and the savory hors d’oeuvres served in the inn’s private bar each evening.

MANSION LODGING WITH FINE DINING BREAKFAST

Meanwhile, the AAA Four Diamond mansion inn and its cuisine fascinate readers in the “Fun Escapes” section of the Paula Deen magazine in the article “A Taste of the Past”. Appropriately enough, it features a recipe for a breakfast dish that is a guest favorite – Orange Ricotta Pancakes, typically served with eggs over easy and sausage patties. It’s an elegant dish in keeping with the Ballastone’s atmosphere, and one that home cooks won’t find too challenging. To capture the true flavor of the Ballastone, however, Jennifer recommends serving the pancakes on good china and bringing out fine silverware, along with putting fresh flowers on the breakfast table. Details matter, the veteran innkeeper insists, and years worth of satisfied guests would agree.

Ballastone manager Melissa Williams advises that at least one guest daily will request at least one of the inn’s more popular dishes – like the signature pancakes, the Cinnamon-Sugar French Toast and the Shrimp and Grits.

Paula Deen with innkeeper Jennifer Salandi at Ballastone Inn. Photo (c) Christine Hall.

PAULA DEEN MAGAZINE DISHES UP INTRODUCTION TO BALLASTONE

The article in Cooking with Paula Deen Magazine offers guests a glimpse of one of the most luxurious inns in Savannah. The four-page photo spread showcases the elaborate afternoon high tea with full silver service, the secluded courtyard, and gives a peek inside one of the 16 vastly different guest rooms.

“Paula Deen has a history of supporting small local businesses, like the Ballastone,” Jennifer said. “In the hospitality business, getting a nod from Paula is quite a compliment, especially in her hometown. We appreciate this enviable spotlight, and are so pleased that the magazine team captured not just a breakfast that garners so much praise, not just the amazing bedrooms, but more also of the inn’s enchanting appeal.”

Ballastone Inn is also featured in Paula Deen’s book, Savannah Style.

ABOUT BALLASTONE INN

The Ballastone Inn pioneered the concept of the elegant bed-and-breakfast in Savannah, Georgia. Housed in an Italianate mansion (circa 1838), this luxury inn holds the AAA Four Diamond Award, and has received awards from the Historic Savannah Foundation and the National Trust. Ballastone is located in the Landmark Savannah Historic District and is owned by Jennifer Salandi. Telephone 912/236-1484.

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Media Contact:
Sandy Traub
912/398-9828
straub@spatior.com

Even more flags will fly at Ballastone In on Memorial Day Weekend!

Make Memorial Day weekend a true three-day Memorial Day weekend, and the third day of your stay will be at half price at Ballastone Inn!

You’ll find our lovely historic inn all decked out for Memorial Day (May 28, 2012) with flags, bunting and patriotic decorations.

Innkeeper Jennifer Salandi believes in observing both aspects of Memorial Day – the patriotic side remembering the sacrifices of our military through the centuries and lighter side where it marks the beginning of our summer season of fun in the sun. Each guest will receive a miniature American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution – fitting mementoes for this patriotic holiday.

The beach is a major part of many Memorial Day celebrations, and it can be during your stay at the Ballastone, too. Of course, our historic inn is in a graceful mansion on a tree-lined avenue, not on a sandy beach. But Tybee Island’s beaches are just a short drive away (about 18 miles) and once you’ve picked up the first sunburn of the season, walked the nostalgic pier, and done a little retail therapy at Seaside Sisters, you can dash back to your luxurious room to wash the Atlantic Ocean’s residue off in an elegant bath.

In town the many appeals of Savannah’s Historic District will keep you busy shopping, touring and eating. You might want to slip out for an early morning walk in the cool dawn, before the city is wide awake and then return for your gourmet breakfast.

So stretch your Memorial Day weekend. Savor Johnny Mercer’s “Summer Wind” in his hometown while the heat and humidity are still on hold.  And be thankful for the blessings that come with living in America!

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Music maestro! Then, Ballastone Inn's private bar after the Savannah Philharmonic performance.

The Ballastone Inn is a player in the symphony of special events that the Savannah community weaves for itself and its welcome guests.  For example, when the Savannah Philharmonic features guest performers for its concerts, this historic Savannah bed & breakfast mansion often hosts these classical musicians.

The care and feeding of a famous musician can be a delicate business. One particularly memorable guest at the Ballastone is a world-class pianist, Shaun Tirrell,  whose good luck charm before each performance was a special snack. Not champagne and caviar, not truffles, not elegant imported bonbons, but – a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The Ballastone serves a gourmet, to-die-for breakfast every morning, along with delightful signature nibbles and noshes at teatime and when wine is served in the parlor before guests set out for dinner. These are inclusive in the B&B’s luxury accommodations rate.  But there is no short-order cook around to whip up special requests before an evening performance. Once the chef calls it a day, that’s it until breakfast.

Innkeeper Jennifer Salandi wasn’t about to let the young musician take to the stage without his signature good-luck sandwich, however. She made sure the chef concocted the simple treat before leaving for the day and left it under a cake dome with a “Hands off!” note in case some hungry staff member wandered through the kitchen.  The show, after all, must go on, and a little peanut butter and jelly is a small price to pay for keeping Savannah’s classical music scene running smoothly.

Music, maestro – and peanut butter!

On Twitter @BallastoneInn and Facebook follow our AAA Four-Diamond mansion bed and breakfast inn in Savannah, Georgia’s historic district on National Register Historic Places.

Ballastone Inn's Entry Hall

But sometimes our more famous guests are kind enough to share an autographed photo with us, and when that happens, we know just where to display it – in the most private of places! If you’re a guest needing to refresh while you are on our parlor level, enjoying afternoon tea or a wine at our private bar, you’ll see what we mean.

Where, after all, do you display an autographed photo of a superstar? It just doesn’t quite fit in with the luxurious and romantic décor of any of the lavish rooms or suites at the bed-and-breakfast inn. The entry hall won’t work – why cover up the elegant Scalamandre wallpaper? And photos look jarring hanging next to antique Harper’s prints.

Traveling celebrities praise Ballastone Inn in Savannah GA USA

Innkeeper Jennifer Salandi has a wicked sense of humor to go with her infallible sense of style – that’s how the inn attains luxury without stuffiness. She has grouped the framed autographed photos (many with testimonials about their Ballastone experience) on the walls of the parlor floor powder room. That way, you can swoon in private over the likenesses of Matt Damon, Robert Redford or the late Paul Newman. Humorist Dave Barry, actor Danny Glover and comedian/actor Bill Cosby are there as well, along with several others. Of course, it’s not a complete set – some of our famous guests prefer anonymity, and we respect that even after they’ve moved along. We don’t, for example, have photos from the visit of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, nor Kevin Spacey’s extended stay during the filming of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” Nor do we have autographs from the outstanding classical musicians who stay with us when performing with the Savannah Philharmonic.

However, all of our guests feel like superstars once they experience the triple-sheeted luxury of our beds, the glamor of our courtyard’s outside dining, and the red-carpet treatment of our staff.

On Twitter @BallastoneInn and Facebook follow our AAA Four-Diamond mansion bed and breakfast inn in Savannah, Georgia’s historic district on National Register Historic Places.

Table for Two Breakfast at Ballastone Inn

Savannah, dressed up! That’s Ballastone Inn.  Just when you thought Savannah would be a nice Old South destination, the well-placed Ballastone Inn — Savannah’s first luxurious mansion B&B –  makes your visit even better.

Historic Savannah gardens, homes, music, art, and celebrated people are only a few of the reasons to visit Savannah in springtime. Here we share our choices for Savannah’s best happenings during a spring vacation in 2012 — March, April, May and June.  Our concierges will have more wonderful tips for you.

March 10-16: Girl Scouts Week at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.

March 15:  Before St. Patrick’s day enjoy Carrigbyrne Pike and Choir Group from County Wexford, Ireland at St. John’s Cathedral.

March 22 – April 7:  The Savannah Music Festival is Georgia’s largest festival. Yet, the historic small venues exude an air of intimacy during the 17-day smorgasbord of music, a world-class feast — day and night — for music lovers.

March 22 – 25: During the 77th Annual Savannah Tour of Homes and Gardens, enjoy the privacy of the Inn’s secret garden. Ballastone Inn is beautifully flanked by hidden gardens — the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace garden and our Inn’s freshly manicured garden courtyard.

March 23: For his new Spring Exhibition artist Ray Ellis is in his Savannah gallery that overlooks Ellis Square in the Savannah City Market district.

April 21: “A Night of Opera” is presented by the Savannah Philharmonic in the magnificently restored Lucas Theatre, renown among the historic, grand theaters in America’s Old South.

May 1-7: Tall Ships Challenge anchors on the Savannah riverfront.

May 4 – 6: Girl Scouts alumnae return to the city where Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low founded the organization in 1912. Stay next door to the Mrs. Low’s birthplace during “Come Right Over: 100 Years of Girl Scouting, Sojourn in Savannah Reunion IV“.

May 5: Annual Savannah Scottish Games. We recommend that you plan an extended Savannah weekend to see the showing of the colors at Independent Presbyterian Church. It’s when Scottish heritage shows its dress regalia and pageantry during Sunday worship services.  The church is just across Bull Street from Ballastone Inn in the Savannah historic district.

May 13: Mother’s Day.  Mothers receive beautiful roses in room, a special gift from Ballastone Inn.  A special treat is the Inn’s exquisite Southern-style high tea, everyday but made more special during our annual Mother’s Day celebration.

May 28: Flags are flying proudly at Ballastone Inn during Memorial Day weekend.  Stay three days, and your third day is at 50%.

June 14: In the spirit of the Old South, buntings and flags beautifully wave the week of Flag Day at our luxury Savannah B&B inn.

June 17: Fathers, let us know your favorite beer and we’ll have a chilled supply here, waiting as our gift during your Father’s Day stay at Ballastone Inn.  Uniquely, the Inn’s private bar (exclusive to the inn’s guests) tops the list of favorite spots at this luxurious B&B in Savannah’s historic district.

Escape to Savannah! Stay at our visitor-savvy, comfortable Italianate mansion (ca. 1838) overlooking beautiful Oglethorpe Avenue.  Discover the rare ambiance — the perfect mix of art and life — during your Savannah travels here.

Hydrangeas are blooming in the Ballastone Inn's window boxes

Hydrangeas are blooming in the Ballastone Inn’s window boxes and in the ornamental containers along the front of the property – a sure sign that spring is finally here! Next, the Ballastone’s secluded garden courtyard will get its seasonal makeover.

Debbie Hall of Debbie Hall Designs is the historic bed-and-breakfast inn’s designated florist and gardener. If it blooms, either as a plucked blossom in a Ballastone bridal bouquet or cascading from a pottery urn flanking the steps, then it’s Debbie’s territory, and she covers her territory beautifully.

“The Ballastone is just a lovely place, and when people come here you want them to feel so pampered,” she said. “You want things to be lush and pretty and full – an escape, a sanctuary.”

In the shady private courtyard, where B&B guests can opt to take their gourmet breakfast, Debbie faces challenges because the brick-paved space is surrounded by 19th-century walls that block out the sunlight. So she turns to mosses, ferns, caladiums, begonias, hostas and colorful bromeliads to dress the garden’s space in living beauty. The small fishpond, home to exotic goldfish, helps add more color.

By summer, Debbie will turn to coleuses, which stand up well to heat, shade and sun. Even in winter, she knows how to get plants and Savannah’s mild climate to work together.

Historic Savannah blooms in the springtime, and the Ballastone Inn blooms right along with it.

Vintage inspired fire place in Gazebo Suite is custom made in Georgia by Grate Fires in Washington, GA.

SAVANNAH Georgia — When history meets hospitality, Georgia entrepreneurs prosper. Just ask Jennifer Salandi in Savannah and Mary Craven in Washington. One runs a luxury bed-and-breakfast inn (that’s Jennifer) and one runs a small company that hand-assembles gas-powered fireplace grates (that being Mary).

Jennifer discovered Grate Fires, Mary’s company, when she went looking for a way to outfit the rooms at the Ballastone Inn (circa 1838) with authentic-looking working fireplaces. Natural gas was clearly the fuel of choice, but Jennifer – a stickler for detail – wanted her fireplaces to look both great and authentic.

The innkeeper believes in buying local, so she was delighted to discover the first American company to make gas-powered coal grates for fireplaces was right here in Georgia, in the historic town of Washington, midway between Athens and Augusta.

“When people stay at the Ballastone, they expect to enjoy luxury and comfort in an historic setting. A working fireplace dramatically ups the romance in a room, and I was determined to offer that to my guests,” Jennifer said.

The Ballastone has more working fireplaces than any inn/hotel in Savannah, the owner pointed out. They’re even available in the courtyard level rooms, which are some of the best priced for guests. Most lodgings reserve this favorite amenity for their most expensive rooms only.

The mansion that is now the Ballastone Inn probably was heated in its earliest decades with wood burned in the fireplaces, Jennifer acknowledges. But as the 1800s neared their end, coal became a popular fuel, and many homes would have retrofit their fireplaces to take advantage of it, she said.

In other words, when guests use the remote control to trigger their fireplace and the gas flames warm the sculpted “coal” into a toasty glow, it closely mirrors what might have actually been going on in that fireplace over 100 years ago. Minus the backbreaking labor of hauling coal scuttles, of course.

Vacation Inspiration

Mary and her husband, the late Gary Craven, were inspired to start their company by their experiences on a vacation to England during the early 1990s. They noticed that cities and towns were busily cleaning soot and dust from historic building facades. Yet, when they went into hotel lobbies and pubs, the Cravens noticed what they took for coal fires and they wondered why these were still allowed as the area cleaned up soot stains. On closer inspection of such a fire in the Crescent area of Bath, they learned they had been fooled by the ultra-realistic gas-powered coal grates the businesses were equipped with.

“We had just bought an old house in Athens, and it had something like eight fireplaces in it,” Mary said. “We decided we wanted the coal grates there, but we discovered nobody in the U.S. had them.”

The couple imported some of the grates from British sources, but soon learned the devices didn’t meet the more stringent safety requirements in place in the United States and Canada.

Figuring there might be a market for a product they themselves wanted, the Cravens launched Grate Fires. Working with cast-iron replicas of antique fireplace grates, the company assembles the intricate burners and other components that add up to a realistic “coal” fire. All of their devices meet the stringent CSA certification standards required in the U.S. and Canada. (CSA is the natural gas industry safety standard, the equivalent of a UL listing for electrical appliances.)

“We were the first company to introduce the gas coal fire to the United States and Canada,” Mary says with pride. “Others have copied us, but we were the first.”

“Bed and breakfasts, inns and hotels are big customers,” she noted. Nor is the business all one-way. She sells grates to the Ballastone, for instance, and periodically a guest who loved the effect gets in touch to buy one for his own home.

Perfectly displayed

"Coal" fireplace from Grate Fires offers warming ambiance in Ballastone Inn's private parlor bar.

Grate Fires sells its products all over the United States and Canada. But perhaps they are nowhere more perfectly displayed than in Savannah’s Ballastone Inn. The stately mansion features them in the elegant common rooms on its parlor floor, as well as in most rooms throughout the four-story inn.

The fires are reflected from polished wood of beautiful furniture, the antique bar and the pieces of Jennifer’s silver collection that are in use throughout the parlor, bar and reception areas. While Savannah’s climate is semi-tropical, the area does have a brief winter that makes the fires a cozy place to warm your hands, even on chilly spring mornings or crisp fall evenings. Most days, of course, they are admired for the looks more than for their practicality.

You can see Grate Fires’ products at work in the Ballastone at www.ballastone.com, where you will also have the opportunity to view the lavishly appointed rooms and make reservations for your own Savannah sojourn. The full line of Grate Fires products, including its ventless line, can be seen – and ordered – at www.gratefires.com.

About … Ballastone Inn.
The Ballastone Inn pioneered the concept of the elegant bed-and-breakfast in Savannah, Georgia. Housed in an Italianate mansion (circa 1838), this luxury inn holds the AAA Four Diamond Award, and has received awards from the Historic Savannah Foundation and the National Trust. Ballastone is located in the Landmark Savannah Historic District and is owned by Jennifer Salandi. Telephone 912/236-1484.

About … Grate Fires.

Grate Fires was established in1993 in historic Washington, Georgia by Gary and Mary Craven. Unable to import the gas-fired replica fireplace grates they admired in England because of the more stringent safety requirements in the U.S. and Canada, the couple began to produce them in Washington using imported cast iron grates and components hand-assembled in their factory. Telephone Mary Craven, 706/678-5459.

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Media Contact:
Sandy Traub
912/398-9828
straub@spatior.com

Note: Professional high resolution photos available on request to straub@spatior.com.  Download Georgia fireplace story PDF here: Ballastone Inn and Grate Fires – Two Great Georgia Businesses 2012.  To download PDF, click on link just above, then immediately under blog psot DATE is a file name to click LEFT to open.  (We’ll tell our programmers it’s really obscure.)

Turn down in China Trade Suite

Picture yourself enjoying a romantic stay in Savannah, whether for a quick trip or long weekend. You’ve spent a fascinating day in the Historic District, maybe capping the evening off with a moonlit horse-drawn carriage ride. It’s been a great day, but it’s time to make your way back to your exclusive lodging at the Ballastone Inn mansion (circa 1838).

Earlier you would have enjoyed our historic bed-and-breakfast inn’s fresh scones with Devonshire cream at afternoon tea, sipped fine wine before dinner, and lingered in the charm of the drawing rooms and private garden. But at the close of day you find the bar has been raised again in your beautifully appointed room. The attentive staff has turned down your bed, dimmed the lighting and left a Trafalgar Square chocolate treat, handmade by C. Kay Cummings Candies, to complete the day’s experience.

When you climb into the cloud-comfort of the Ballastone’s bed, you’ll settle into triple-sheeted luxury, with pristine sheets encasing the down-filled comforter. And if you are lucky enough to have arrived on the rare winter evening when it feels actually wintry in Savannah, you’ll enjoy the ambiance and chill-chasing glow of the hand crafted, gas coal fireplace from Grate Fires. The 19th Century style fireplaces are now installed in most of our rooms.

You’ll leave Savannah with many wonderful memories, including the luxurious comfort of the “welcome home to Savannah” message conveyed by our nightly turndown service. It’s an extraordinary amenity at Ballastone Inn where nothing is ordinary.

4 O'Clock Victorian High Tea Daily at the Ballastone Inn

Strawberry school?

Innkeeper Jennifer Salandi insists everything be just so at the elegant Ballastone Inn in Savannah, Georgia. When guests take a break from Savannah’s charms to enjoy the complimentary high tea the Ballastone provides its guests, Jennifer demands their experience be perfect. A proper afternoon tea requires Devonshire cream and petite scones, she says. She wants chocolate-covered strawberries on the inn’s Savannah tea table often, and sometimes they’re a romantic little amenity in a guest’s room.

“The leaves have to be beautifully in place, but none of the chocolate can get on the leaves,” she insists. Even the perfectly dipped strawberry isn’t enough. A creative touch decorates the berries in white chocolate – a swirl pattern, perhaps. Ballastone’s lighthearted luxury is showcased when the strawberry “artist” outfits the berry with a deftly drawn “tuxedo,” as in the elopement weddings at Ballastone!

To get the perfect strawberries every time, Jennifer serves as chief school marm at her own “Strawberry School.” Every employee, not just the chef, knows how to make the confections to Jennifer’s exacting standards. That way, there’s no risk of the charming details being overlooked – whether for a last minute romantic getaway or a social tea party.

Luxury and elegance? Yes. Snootiness? No. Jennifer’s luxury-meets-practical approach buoys this coveted lodging in Savannah’s Landmark Historic District far beyond any stereotype. This means you’ll never miss out on the details – like beautifully crafted strawberries – that add up to Savannah’s finest bed-and-breakfast experience.

On Twitter @BallastoneInn and Facebook follow our AAA Four-Diamond mansion bed and breakfast inn in Savannah, Georgia’s historic district on National Register Historic Places.