Add to the Adventure With Alternative Accommodations

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By Victor Block

It didn't take Marge and Robert Allen long to agree that The Castle is a fitting name for the luxury suite in which they were staying. The two-story lodging features an octagonal cherry ceiling and a handcrafted Amish-built spiral staircase leading up to a large loft area that is lit by a massive iron chandelier.

The loft, which is furnished with a luxuriously draped king-size bed, opens onto a balcony that provides a gorgeous view over the Mohican Valley in Ohio. No wonder the hotel has been rated among the top 30 of its kind in the world.

"Its kind" refers to treehouse accommodations, and they are one of a number of unusual and unique places to stay that offer something more than typical bed-and-bath lodgings.

That certainly applies to the Mohicans Treehouse Resort in Glenmont, Ohio. Along with cabins and country homes, this family-owned hostelry offers stays in accommodations perched off-ground, each of which has its own touches. The one named White Oak sleeps six guests and features a wraparound deck. The Silver Bullet is a renovated classic Airstream trailer perched 22 feet high.

Another high-altitude sleeping experience awaits at abandoned fire towers that are available for rent. Most of them were built during the 1930s and 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps to be manned by lookouts seeking to spot forest fires. They largely have been replaced by modern technology.

They're located in national forests, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service land and state parks. While rental rates are low, so are amenities. Many turrets are located in a remote area, so visitors have to park and hike in, often carrying their own supplies and water. Electricity and plumbing might be lacking, replaced by an outside pit toilet and cooking area.

Other places to overnight also have touches of the past. Covered wagons helped to push the American frontier all the way to the Pacific Ocean until they were supplanted by the railroads in the 1850s. It's possible to recapture the nostalgia of that time at the True West Campground in Jamestown, Tennessee. Along with more traditional accommodations, it has covered wagons that offer some creature comforts the pioneers lacked. These include comfortable beds, heat and air conditioning.

Creature comforts also are available at the Black Tree Resort in Lake George, Colorado, where "rustic modern lives among the trees." Those planning to visit have no need to buy, pack and assemble camping equipment or food. Black Tree provides fully furnished tents with handcrafted furniture, a private bathroom, covered deck and an electric golf cart to get around the property. Meals are delivered to the tents to be enjoyed at the outside picnic table adjacent to a fire pit.

The atmosphere is different at the historic lock houses that are strung out along a section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal between Washington, D.C., and western Maryland. That waterway was constructed between 1828 and 1850 so cargo could be transported in barges pulled by mules.

Because of the elevation change in the terrain, 74 locks were built with their keepers living in modest houses nearby. Some of those homes are now available to overnight guests. Their facilities range from full amenities to rustic to electricity-only.

It's the 1930s that passengers who board the iconic Queen Mary relive. They experience the glamour and excitement of the Golden Age of Atlantic crossings without leaving port.

The first Queen Mary is permanently docked in Long Beach, California, where it serves as a hotel. Original art deco touches are among reminders of its heyday as a luxury liner, along with three award-winning ocean-view restaurants.

A much earlier trip back in time is available at the Feather Nest Inn. One of the theme suites at the Cherry Hill, New Jersey, property resembles a prehistoric cavern complete with wall paintings, faux animal skins and rock piles. Another, the Treasure Island Room, features a boat-shaped bed, furniture resembling that salvaged from a shipwreck and a waterfall.

A very different theme pervades a bed-and-breakfast accommodation at the Historic Washington State Park in Arkansas. One major park attraction is the collection of 54 buildings that comprised a pioneer settlement along the Southwest Trail, a 19th-century pioneer route that stretched from Missouri to Texas.

Another is the Jailhouse Bed and Breakfast, which occupies a two-story jail that was completed in 1918 to replace one built in 1873. The facility housed people convicted of burglary, forgery, assault and other crimes.

In addition to eight guest rooms, the building has displays where convicts etched their names, two cells and other hints of its notorious past. According to local lore, a 1922 prisoner named Isaac Evans haunts the premises to this day.

While residents of that Arkansas jail were facing the music because of their actions, a package at the Hutton Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, focuses upon music enjoyment. Among highlights of the Fender In-Room Experience are guitar lessons, free tickets to a show at the hotel's Analog music venue and a discount for a custom song written for the guest -- yet another way to make the accommodations part of the experience.

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WHEN YOU GO

themohicans.net

firelookout.org

truewestcampground.com

blacktreeresort.com

canaltrust.org

queenmary.com

feathernestinn.com

arkansasstateparks.com

huttonhotel.com

Victor Block is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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