Sherfey Suite History & Accommodations

Sherfey Suite is named after Steve and Sharman Sherfey, the current and 6th owners of the property. It is the smallest and most economical of our six short term rentals and is the main floor of the Carriage House. When the carriage house was originally built in 1900 the downstairs was used for carriages and later on for cars; the upstairs was the servants quarters and later on an apartment.

We bought the property in 1992 from Margaret Stinson. The upstairs of the main house had not been lived in for a while and was still set up as 2 apartments. There was a kitchen in each wing of the upstairs. In one of the kitchens was an old refrigerator, running on natural gas (unusual for a house), probably installed by Mrs. Stinson’s husband, Fred, who was the president of the Chattanooga Gas Company. There were radiators throughout the house, heated with hot water coming from a gas furnace. Almost no insulation and no central heat and air existed in the house as well as no storm windows.

During the first renovations, one upstairs apartment was relocated onto the main floor and the other to the basement. Radiators were removed, insulation and central heat and air was added, and all the windows that had screens where replaced with glass. (There are over 100 windows and over 1,000 window panes in the main house.) On the main floor, the hallway in the middle of the house was converted into a shower room and two closets. During the 1927 Workman renovations, an attic was installed between the first and second floor, which is something you don’t see very often. The attic space has now been finished into a storage space.

We raised all 4 of our children in the house. Currently 3 of our children reside in St. Elmo. In 2011 part of Chattanooga, including Historic St. Elmo, was hit by tornados. Thankfully, no damage was done to the main house, but there was some slight damage to the exterior of the Carriage House, thus giving the Carriage House its newer look after renovations.

After all our children were grown and gone, we began our second renovation of the Bear House property. In 2015 we started turning our loving home into a B & B of sorts, which had been a long dream of ours. By 2017 the second renovations were complete and what you see today is the result of the love, sweat and tears that we have poured into our home.

Sherfey Suite:

Main floor of the Carriage House, 500 sq. ft.
1 Queen bedroom with Smart HDTV
1 Full bathroom
Open living, dining and kitchen floor plan
Fully equipped kitchen
Living room with Smart HDTV
Dining for 2
Private entrance
Laundry room located in the main house (Bear House). Shared between the Carriage House (Sherfey Suite & Lilly”s Loft) and Stinson Suite in the main house
Free Wi-Fi
Free onsite parking

Reservations for Sherfey Suite:

http://bit.ly/SherfeySuiteTheBearHouse1890