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The Lemon Hotel in Paint Bank officially welcomes guests into their fruit-themed vacation spaces.
The property at Nine Hotel Lane, Paint Bank has undergone several different transformations: it has been a hotel, a halfway house, a private residence and a hospital. Now, thanks to Nancy Mulheren and her late husband, John, it is once again a hotel: The Lemon Hotel.
Mulheren and her family live in their native New Jersey, but have a love of Southwest Virginia thanks to Roanoke College. After graduation, she and her husband started buying property in the area to have a place to go for family vacations.
The Mulherens bought the neighboring property and turned it into the Depot Lodge. The property at Nine Hotel Lane was vacant at that time, and was used as a storage area. After owning it for 20 years, Nancy Mulheren decided to turn it into a boutique hotel to complement the Depot Lodge’s more rustic ambience. The process of renovating the derelict building took several years, and the Lemon Hotel officially opened in July 2021.
Why Lemon? The name pays homage to the owner of the original hotel, a Mr. Lemon. Once the name was decided, the logical decision was to name the accommodations after fruit. They hired a designer who created fruit-themed rooms: Blueberry, Pear, Apple, Strawberry, Peach and Grape. Each room features colors and art that reflect its respective fruit.
The Lemon Hotel attracts guests from Roanoke and Salem and their surrounding areas, as well as Northern Virginia, New Jersey, and southern West Virginia. Their busy season has just begun, but there’s plenty to time to book your vacation.
Kendall Sperber, the hotel’s general manager, enjoys working at the hotel as much as guests enjoy staying there. She has been known to “hang out at the fire pit while guests tell me what they did that day.”
The staff also includes Lynette Sherman, executive chef, and Madi Haun, social media. And don’t forget about the hens in the Chick Inn, who provide fresh eggs for the kitchen. Mr. Lemon would approve.
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