The Cooper House Bed and Cocktail

When it’s below freezing and there’s snow on the ground, asking your significant other to camp in a tent can be a hard sell.

Thankfully (especially in the bitter cold months here in the Mid-Atlantic), many of the places where we go to find off-pavement adventures are close enough to civilization to find fun, interesting, and quite comfortable lodging options.

Finding one of these unique lodging options was the first thing on my mind when Maria told me she wanted to go on a trip and hit the dirt in the Jeep, but not necessarily channel her inner Eskimo by tent-camping in December’s sub-freezing temps.

I went on an epic google search for B&B options in the Canaan Valley, WV area.  To my delight, I discovered The Cooper House Bed and Cocktail in Thomas, WV and was able to score last minute reservations for myself and Maria, as well as Ben and Becca due to a cancellation. Cooper House had me sold at “cocktail” — who needs breakfast anyway?

When we arrived at The Cooper House and walked in the door all we could say was wow — the pictures don’t do this place justice. The Cooper House was built in 1880 and earned it’s name from the previous owner, Jim Cooper, who had lived in the house since the 1930’s. Joy, the current owner/inn keeper is only the 3rd person to ever own the property in its 135 year history.

Joy is a West Virginia native who has recently returned to the state after living and working in Philadelphia for the past 30 years. She’s brought her incredible eye for design to this cozy bed and cocktail, and she’s also a fantastic host. Her full time greeter is Scruff the dog who is a big clown that’ll happily meet you wagging his tail in return for a belly rub.

We reserved the 2 larger rooms, which came with all of the amenities that you would expect from a top notch B&B, but also delivered plenty of unique charm and details. But the awesome bar cart on the main level pushed Cooper House over the top. Joy’s take on the B&B is that there are plenty of places in Thomas, WV just a few steps away to get breakfast, so she prefers to serve hors d’oeuvres and drinks during happy hour instead. This was perfect for the DirtRoadTrip crew because none of us are morning people and waking up at a specific time for breakfast on a weekend usually never happens.

The Cooper House was a great change for us and made for a great weekend trip. We used it as our “base camp” for the weekend, and we had an amazing time staying in Joy’s home. I hope the ladies don’t get their hopes up though because we won’t be trading in our OzTent’s anytime soon.