Robbins - Finklea Hotel

Robbins - Finklea Hotel. Monroe County. , Built circa-1840 as a one-story home, Daniel and Barbara Bradley Robbins purchased the property in 1860. Around 1905, Mrs. Robbins converted the structure into a boarding house. After her death, her daughters, Minnie Robbins and Rachel Robbins Davison, took over the boarding house and later changed it to a hotel. In 1948, Mr. O.B. Finklea bought the building with the intention of a quick sale, but soon discovered that the hotel could practically run itself. The building had fourteen rooms with a fireplace in each, snow white linens, flowers in vase's, and the covers turned back on the beds. With no general manager, the hotel was known as the "hotel that nobody ran." Guests registered at a book in the lobby, chose an unoccupied room, and were asked to "leave your dollars on the bed when you check out," paying $2.50 to $3.00 per night. Travelers also enjoyed a meal prepared by Nellie Andress, the only servant at the hotel. After Mr. Finklea's death in 1958, the property was threatened with demolition. In 1962, a group of hunters purchased the hotel and it became a private hunting camp. On October 12, 2012, the 170-year old building burned to the ground leaving only a pair of chimneys and the porch steps., Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1987