Woodbine Hotel and Restaurant

About

4.5
7-20, $$, $$$

This Victorian Hotel with 8 guest rooms, restaurant, saloon & landscaped grounds is an easy two hour drive from Houston, Dallas or Austin. Rooms feature king or queen beds, private baths/whirlpool tubs, movie channels, free WiFi and full breakfast. Chef/owner Susan Warmuth purchased the hotel in 1999 and serves world class dining for lunch Tuesday through Friday from 11 to 2, dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 6 to 8 & Sunday Lunch Buffet from 11 to 2. Please visit our website for complete menus, view the guest rooms and make on line reservations. Originally named the Shapira Hotel, the 104-year-old hotel consists of two Sears & Roebuck "kit houses" purchased at the 1903 World's Fair. The Eastlake and Queen Ann houses face each other, joined by upper and lower parlors. During construction of the hotel, Jake Shapira stepped on a nail and died of tetanus. His wife Sarah operated the hotel until 1922. Clara Wills purchased and renamed it the Wills Hotel in 1928. The Depression, a World War, the abandonment of the rail line and the new focus on interstate travel and motels led to the demise of the property and it closed in 1974. Completely restored in 1980 by Randy Parten and renamed after a local geological oil layer, the hotel now boasts 12,000 "fish scale" cedar siding, a standing seamed metal roof, restored native yellow pine woodwork and wrap-around porches. The building entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and became a Texas Historic Landmark in 1982.