Restoring History, Home & Hospitality : Follow Our Journey
(Hopefully) welcoming you in late 2025
YOURS,
TRULY
Set atop a sprawling meadow, The Darling is a lovely guesthouse with tremendous heart. Delicate lattice work and a spacious, wraparound porch add to the romance of this 19th century Victorian gingerbread style home which, prior to its restoration, served as a popular marriage site in the early 1900s.
With a limited number of lovingly curated rooms, The Darling wraps its guests in a warm, charming sense of home. Here, where every day begins with the smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen, guests are invited to slow down and savor their stay, helping them fully embrace the restorative wonders a little time away can bring.
NOURISHMENT OF ALL KINDS
A natural caretaker and lover of hospitality, Liz—The Darling’s owner and chief concierge—has found that food is always at the center of her favorite relational interactions. Perhaps that’s why she feels most at home in the kitchen, nurturing friends, family, and guests with the fruits of her culinary creativity. A graduate of Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland with practical experience in foraging, organic gardening, bread making, fermentation, and more, Liz delights in nourishing guests with delicious, home-cooked meals.
Her seasonally rotating menus give her a chance to flex her creativity while honoring her commitment to using only sustainably, responsibly sourced ingredients. Every made-from-scratch meal is carefully planned to accommodate each guest’s dietary preferences. However, Liz always likes to leave a little room for improvisation, as she never knows what inspiration the day—or the garden—will bring.
LOVINGLY CURATED ROOMS
Like any truly well-loved home, no two rooms at The Darling are the same. Each guest suite pays homage to the area in its own unique way, using works from local artists and makers to create the loving, lived-in feeling of home. And as we believe some of the best memories are born out of backyard adventures, we delight in giving our guests private access to nearly eight acres of gorgeous Georgia nature, just beyond their bedroom windows.
THE GIVING & TAKING OF CARE
A restoring take on reciprocity, The Darling creates a relaxing space where guests can take what they need in order to giveback where it’s needed. We believe that when people feel taken care of, they’ll return the favor tenfold—whether that’s to themselves, to others, or to the world we all share. That’s the hopeful feeling and extraordinary experience of restorative hospitality. And it’s why, after a delightful stay at The Darling, you’ll find yourself feeling happy, whole, and a little more like yourself.
THE AREA
Tucked in a valley near Lookout Mountain, Rising Fawn, Georgia is a true nature lover’s paradise. The small Dade County town, named after the child of a Cherokee chieftain, sits in Georgia’s most northwestern corner near the Tennessee-Georgia-Alabama tri-state border. It is 25 minutes from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and within hours of several other major cities, including Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; and Birmingham, Alabama. It is home to Lookout Mountain Flight Park—one of the largest hang-gliding schools/resorts in the country—and a cherished community of local artisans and businesses.
Each year, visitors flock to Cloudland Canyon State Park—just a few short miles from The Darling— where cascading waterfalls pour over sandstone cliffs, and dense thickets of mountain laurel, oak, hickories and hemlocks cloak the sweeping landscape in a colorful patchwork of seasonality.
A BELOVED LEGACY
Originally built in 1884, The Darling has been both a treasured family home and popular marriage site. In fact, it is this loving legacy that inspired its new name, The Darling, which means “beloved.” One of the home’s most notable residents was Judge W. W. Hale, a Justice of the Peace fondly referred to as “the marriage squire” of Dade County. For three decades, Hale opened his home to thousands of couples looking to tie the knot. Couples could get married curbside or inside the home, though no ceremony was to last longer than 10 minutes. These $5 ceremonies—and Hale’s cheeky slogan: “We furnish everything but the gal”—made him something of a local celebrity.
Today, The Darling upholds the home’s legacy of love through heartfelt hospitality and by creating memories guests can cherish for years to come.
RESTORATIVE
HOSPITALITY
A beacon of stewardship-led hospitality, The Darling was designed to create holistic employment opportunities and to be a light of social responsibility and ethical competency within the community of Rising Fawn. It nourishes guests and locals alike by providing a restorative bed and breakfast experience, curated events, second chance employment opportunities, and a collaborative framework for local entrepreneurs to develop their pursuits. Grounded in inclusion, guided by stewardship, and committed to economic, environmental and social sustainability, The Darling is, at its heart, a place to come and feel cherished, and to leave feeling more hopeful for what lies ahead.