The Red Door Bed & Breakfast is owned and operated by Monica & Brent Hinckley and is currently located on the first and second floors of a commercial Rock Building on the Mason County Courthouse Square.
Originally built circa 1895, the building housed a succession of retail businesses including a grocery which used the 1,000 sq ft basement for a root cellar. In 1946 it was opened as “Grimsley’s – Five to Five Dollar” store. Mr. Grimsley later covered the basement access with a new oak plank floor and the basement was “lost” for 50 years! The building went through several other retail establishments until our purchase from Winn’s Corp. in 1995. We “found” the basement again during the renovation to the retail space, which became HINCKLEY’S Country Store and built a new stair to provide access for our additional storage.
In Jan 2016, we closed the retail Variety store (after 21 years) and renovated the storefront to accommodate additional B&B rooms downstairs.The new rooms provide
four additional private rooms with private baths. We
also included a handicap accessible room for our guests.
Previously the upstairs portion of the building was used as residences, a dentist office, a small darkroom and even a worm farm! Although it was abandoned and used for storage in recent years. We believe at one time the upstairs was used as a Community gathering room and during the renovations we found a notation etched into the plaster walls indicating that the Mason Concert Band had used the space in the mid 20’s. Extensive renovations were required as the upstairs did not have any functional plumbing and no active electrical service! The ceilings were 14 ft high and both the East and West walls are rock.
