Save Asheville's Historic Chestnut Street Inn

Help save Chestnut Street Inn - a premier historic bed and breakfast in the heart of Asheville, NC.

About Emilie—a mother to two little girls with a passion for hospitality and an incredible pillar of Asheville's community—and her legacy at Chestnut Street Inn.

Emilie's first bed and breakfast plan was written in the back of a college notebook when she was 18, wandering around Maine searching for the perfect wraparound porch. In 2011, she decided to give those bed and breakfast dreams a trial run and opened a small B&B in her East Village apartment. While tiny, it gave her a wonderful test-run on breakfast planning, scheduling, cleaning, decorating, recipe testing, and conflict management. A dream!

She turned that dream into Chestnut Street Inn, a picturesque 8-guestroom boutique property built in 1905 and featured in Select Registry and Food & Wine Magazine. For the past nine years, the inn has been a cherished place for countless weddings and elopements, graduations, births, birthdays, anniversaries, retreats, other important life events. It’s become a second home for many returning guests and a community hub.

While the inn initially appeared to have minimal damage from Hurricane Helene, it soon became clear that almost every room had suffered water damage. Extensive repairs are needed, including addressing possible structural issues with the chimney. However, the biggest obstacle isn't just the physical repairs—it’s the loss of tourism in Asheville due to the hurricane. All reservations have been canceled, and the area’s major attractions are currently inaccessible, leaving the business without its usual source of income.

With $50,000 in refunds already issued and many more repairs needed, we're reaching out for support to help Chestnut Street Inn's staff and to eventually reopen. Your donations will not only help rebuild The Chestnut Street Inn but also contribute to restoring an incredibly important piece of the local community.

About Us

We are Laura & Shay Johnson. Chestnut Street Inn is a business and experience that's very dear to us, as we celebrated our engagement here before moving to the Asheville area in 2022. All funds raised will go directly to Emilie and the staff at Chestnut Street Inn as they work to repair and restore their buiness in hopes to reopen in 2025.