MARYLAND HOTEL:EVEN IN Nora Roberts's world, truth can be stranger than fiction. In the best-selling author's books, the smart, sexy heroines solve crimes, rescue loved ones and always get the guy. And in mountainous central Maryland, Roberts's new boutique hotel has just as improbable – and rose-coloured – a back story.
As a longtime resident of nearby Keedysville, Roberts watched the old inn on Boonsboro’s main street, which dated from the 1790s, slowly decline. In 2007, the romance novelist and her photographer husband, Bruce Wilder, decided to fix up the old three-story inn, turning it into a romantic, BB-style boutique hotel.
Then, on a February morning in 2008, just a few months shy of opening day, the hotel suddenly exploded in flames. The building was gutted, and all the money, time and hard work that had gone into it went up in smoke.
Almost immediately, Roberts decided to start over, and a year later Inn BoonsBoro opened as the economy imploded.
But as I discovered on a recent overnight stay at the inn, some things are recession-proof, among them steamy novels and romantic inns.
Inn BoonsBoro's rooms are romance-themed, and all but the penthouse suite are named after fictional couples who live happily ever after. There's a Nick and Nora room (of The Thin Manfame), while Titania and Oberon ( A Midsummer Night's Dream) features a canopy bed draped with flowing lavender fabric.
All the rooms, except for wheelchair-accessible Marguerite and Percy ( The Scarlet Pimpernel), have deep baths and Toto toilets. These futuristic commodes have motion-sensing lids and adjustable, bidet-style sprays, seat warmers and built-in dryers.
(LA Times-Washington Post)