Painting by Richard Tumbleston
The Mast farm dates from the late 1700s, when Joseph Mast traveled to the mountains from Randolph County, North Carolina, where he was born in 1764. His father John had settled there after emigrating from Switzerland via Pennsylvania, where his brother remained. Joseph is said to have traded his rifle, his dog, and a pair of leggings for 1000 acres of fertile Watauga River Valley land. The first house, a two-room log cabin, was built around 1810 and remains today as the oldest inhabitable log cabin in Watauga County.
The farm and family prospered through the 19th Century, and Finley and Josephine Mast built the first part of the farmhouse in the 1880s. Around the turn of the century, the Masts began offering meals and rooms to tourists, enlarging the house to accommodate the growing number of guests. By 1915, the inn had 13 bedrooms and one bath. It was called "the Mast Farm" or simply "Aunt Josie's and Uncle Finley's."
Aunt Josie Mast, besides running the house and managing the vegetable garden and dairy, was a master weaver. She turned the original log cabin into a loom house and became celebrated for her coverlets, rugs, and handbags. Some of her coverlets are in the Smithsonian today.
Uncle Finley and Aunt Josie's two sons did not continue the inn after their parents' deaths in the 1930s. Joe, the younger, who was blind, lived in the house until 1964, when ill health forced him to move away.
After Joe Mast died, the house stood empty or was briefly rented until 1984, when Francis and Sibyl Pressly bought the property and did a masterful restoration. The Pressly's outstanding hospitality, cuisine and service became regionally renown in very short order. Along with the purchase, restoration and reestablishment of The Mast General Store by John and Faye Cooper, this greatly contributed to the rebirth of Valle Crucis as a hidden treasure of the Blue Ridge. Once again, The Mast Farm Inn became a favored destination for visitors to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In June 1996, the Pressly's retired and the Inn changed ownership when Wanda Hinshaw and Lyle Schoenfeldt, with daughter, Sarah, moved back to Wanda's home state from Texas. Wanda's sister, Kay Philipp, with her family had made Watauga County home for many years. Kay and Wanda were sister Innkeepers, just as in the old days, when Josie's sister, Leona, had worked with her at the Inn. Interestingly, Kay and Wanda are natives of the same Randolph County where Joseph Mast's family lived in the 1700s.
After many generations being owned and managed by sisters, most recently Wanda and Kay, today we find sisters Sandra Deschamps Siano and Danielle Deschamps as Innkeepers. It certainly does seem that the Mast Farm Inn is destined to be cared for by sisters.
On February 1st 2006, eight members of The Deschamps, Russo & Siano Family relocated together to The Valle Crucis community. They Converged to Valle Crucis after having lived in Paris, London, Switzerland, Manhattan, Petionville, Coconut Grove & North Carolina, as they they had purchased The Mast Farm Inn from Wanda Hinshaw and Lyle Schoenfeldt, and The Taylor House Inn, also in Valle Crucis. The Deschamps have owned, since 1996, what used to be a historic girl's camp (Camp Glenlaurel) on The Blue Ridge Parkway at Gooch Gap in Little Switzerland. After ten years of twice-yearly visits and vacations in the area they decided to relocate here full-time. A common occurrence with many visitors to the The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.
The Mast Farm was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, as "one of the most complete and best preserved groups of nineteenth century farm buildings in western North Carolina." Thanks to inspired restorations and good care, The Mast Farm Inn welcomes visitors today as it did a hundred years ago, providing delicious meals and comfortable lodging in a beautiful setting.
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