Richmond Hill Voted Top Three by Southern Living Readers
Southern Living Magazine, April 2004

Richmond Hill Inn Media Release, April 20, 2004

The readers of Southern Living magazine have voted Richmond Hill Inn as one of their top three favorite country inns for the third consecutive year. The Readers’ Choice Awards are published this month in Southern Living Favorites, a special issue of the magazine.

Southern Living began in 1966 and now has 15 million readers, primarily located in the South from Texas to Deleware. Throughout the year, these readers complete the Readers’ Choice Awards Survey found in the magazine and online. The travel survey covers a dozen categories of places to dine, play, visit and stay. Richmond Hill Inn received the second highest amount of votes for country inn. The other country inns in the top three are Blackberry Farm in Tennessee and Inn at Little Washington in Virginia. Asheville was voted as the second favorite mountain destination. The Blue Ridge Parkway was voted favorite scenic drive.

“This award is a special honor because it results from votes of many travelers,” says Albert J. Michel, owner of Richmond Hill Inn. “Guests are certainly the most important critics.”

Michel and his wife Marge purchased the dilapidated Richmond Hill Mansion in 1987, after the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County saved the Mansion from demolition. With many improvementsand additions during the past decade, they transformed the estate into an award winning property.

Recently, the Inn and Gabrielle’s restaurant received the prestigious AAA Four Diamond Award for the twelfth consecutive year.

** Photographs taken by award-winning photographer Allen Rokach with Southern Living Magazine.