| Date | Rating | Comment
[Guest Comments: 17 positive, 0 negative]
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| 10/31/09 |
Positive
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| My wife and I have been renting homes and cabins in the Smokies for over 12 years. The view from this home is, hands down, the absolute best that we have seen. You just want to stand there, look over God's creation and take it all in. There are no road noises, no vehicles passing in your view, no other homes to look down on, and nothing to interfere with total relaxation and isolation from the "rat race" we all live in. As you drive up the mountain to Bears Paw, you soon realize that this place is, up and away, "over" all other homes on the mountain. You just begin to think you may never get there, when ,you are there, overlooking miles and miles and miles of beautiful mountains. At night, the lights of Franklin blink in the distance and remind you that civilization is only a few minutes away (if you decide you just have to go there). The home is absolutely beautiful, very comfortable and so easy to fall in love with. There is incredible woodwork, tons of mountain decor, all amenities ;and, if you get bored, check out the "critters". Birds, gray squirrels, flying squirrels, and racoons come up for chow and to "just show off." What a great place. I want to thank the "Peels" for sharing their home with those of us who need a break from "stuff".............. Go and enjoy..................... Bo and Cindy Stanford |
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Bo Stanford
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| 08/02/09 |
Positive
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| This home is absolutely gorgeous both in it's location with the awesome views and with the interior design. I don't think I've ever rented a place so tastefully decorated. And every little detail you can imagine is taken care of. You will want for nothing. Most charming are the little flying squirrels that come out at night and gobble down the sunflower seeds. One even let me pet him while the camera was running. We had a spectacular time and hope to return next year. The road to the home is a little intimidating but once you go up and down a couple of times it's no sweat. I can highly recommend this rental to anyone who is looking for a beautiful place to stay and relax and unwind. Jeanette has thought of every little detail to make your visit carefree and memorable. Peggy and Rodney from Florida |
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Peggy and Rodney, Branford, Fl
386-935-9300 |
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| 07/06/09 |
Positive
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| Hi, Jeanette. Well, we made it back to Texas, and we are still raving about our wonderful vacation. We opened a Snapfish account and narrowed our many pictures to only 95! Ha! Many you will not be too interested in, but I think you'll find some that are pretty interesting. For instance, we got good shots of three beautiful moths, as I mentioned...the Luna Moth, the Promethea silkmoth, and your brightly colored pink moth-I THINK, still not identified. I am especially impressed that our Luna is much brighter and more vivid than any I have ever seen illustrated in my books. It was a "lifer" for me and Lindsay as well. Isn't it just stunning? And, I still am so fascinated by the snake-head wingtips of the Promethea silkmoth. Such detail..snake scales even. I read that there is a caterpillar with similar markings that can actually blink the eye features. How can anyone imagine that all this just happened randomly? We are still laughing at those little clowns--the flying squirrels. After being cautious we gradually realized they were unfazed by us, and many of our pictures were taken 3 feet away. We were very careful not to frighten those precious creatures. At one point we walked back to the grill and watched them fly over your home. I was amazed at that. We absolutely loved and thoroughly enjoyed your home..do you know that we actually cooked EVERY meal there, only eating out on the road. We enjoyed your lovely kitchen, making good use of the local farmers' markets and the wealth of fresh veggies, fruits and berries. We packed our own lunches for daily excursions, and our little girls loved the picnics. We hit the local gem mines, and each of us found rubies, emeralds, saphires, topaz, and of course beautiful garnets...our favorite mine was by far Ruby Creek, where the folks not only guided us throughout our hunt, but also bagged and labeled our stones. During that warm day they also provided us with cool treats to keep us comfortable. We found tons of beautiful stones. Every busy day was ended going up to Bear Paw, looking forward to a good shower, dinner at the family table, comic entertainment under the stars and a blessed rest in wonderful bedcovers! Bill and I were awakened almost every morning by a beautiful male cardinal tapping on the high window pane..early too! You have no idea what it mean to to me to see Bill and Lindsay melt into relaxation and rest! I hope everything was in place and very close to how we found it. We were so blessed to have stumbled onto the "mother lode" of wilderness lodges! Thank you again for sharing with us. Dreaming of Bear Paw, Pam Pettijohn (Tons of pics, but we forgot to snap pictures of your Beverly Doolittles, over which we have had lots of conversation, especially with our older granddaughter, Draik. I hope you got her heart-felt note.) |
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Pam Pettijohn, Harlingen, Texas
956 428 6583 |
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Homeowner Response:
This family truly brought joy to our decision to rent our returement home.
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| 03/19/09 |
Positive
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Our family was treated to the most enjoyable, relaxing and spiritually renewing week at Bear Paw. A perfect setting, high up on a mountain with spectacular views in addition to a gorgeous timber frame cabin decorated beautifully with every creature comfort. We felt like pampered royalty!
Bear Paw provided something for everyone. As an avid nature photographer I was treated to many wonderful opportunities to make spectacular landscape and animal images.
Being so close to the flying squirrels feeding off the deck railing each evening was a wonderful new photographic experience for me. Going into the surrounding towns to browse or to dinner, checking out the many waterfalls in the area, hiking, horse back riding or simply staying at the cabin sitting on the screened lanai enjoying the sights and sounds of the mountains was heaven. The week went much too quickly.
I would be remiss mot to mention how helpful and accommodating the owners, Jeanette and her husband were. We unfortunately ran into a problem with our van going up the mountain the afternoon we arrived. Jeanette went to great lengths to assist us in coming up with a solution. In the meantime as we were working on putting her plan in action she contacted several other properties in the area where we could stay in the event we were not successful. Thankfully her solution worked as I know there is nothing in that area that could have measured up to our stay at Bear Paw.
We definitely will chose Bear Paw as our first choice our next trip to North Carolina! |
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Diane Brannon, Leesburg, Florida
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Homeowner Response:
*This is how we learned that Vans were not good choices for our road.
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| 03/19/09 |
Positive
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Our family was treated to the most enjoyable, relaxing, and spiritually renewing week at Bear Paw. A perfect setting, high up on a mountain with spectacular views in addition to a gorgeous timber frame cabin decorated beautifully with every creature comfort.
We felt like pampered royalty! Bear Paw provided something for everyone. As an avid nature photographer I was treated to many wonderful opportunities to make spectacular landscape and animal images.
Being so close to the flying squirrels feeding off the deck railing each evening was a wonderful new photographic experience for me. Going into the surrounding towns to browse or have dinner, checking out the many waterfalls in the area, hiking, horse back riding or simply staying at Bear Paw sitting on the screened lanai enjoying the sights and the sounds of the mountains was heaven. The week went by much too quickly.
I would be remiss not to mention how helpful and accommodating the owners, Jeanette and her husband were. We unfortunately ran into a problem with our van going up the mountain to the cabin the afternoon we arrived. Jeanette went to great lengths to assist us in coming up with a solution. In the meantime as we were working on putting her plan in action she contacted several other properties in the area where we could stay in the event we were not successful. Thankfully her solution worked as I know there is nothing in that area that could have measured up to our stay at Bear Paw.
We definitely will choose Bear Paw as our first choice our next rip to North Carolina. |
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Diane Brannon, Leesburg, Florida
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Homeowner Response:
THANK YOU DIANE! Yes, this is where we learned our lesson about VANS being heavy in the rear and having only rear wheel drive. So we discuss with each client that VANS are not suitable for mountains as high as ours:)
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| 03/05/09 |
Positive
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| What an absolutely wonderful house!! I had such a wonderful time and it felt so homey, there was nothing I wanted for the entire stay! Having my morning coffee on the beautiful back porch with that amazing view was just priceless, the bed could NOT be any more comfortable! The kitchen was out of a dream! I would recommend this beautiful home to absolutely anybody, the privacy was a very welcomed bonus, my only gripe was that I didn't want to leave! Thank you for sharing your amazing home with me Jeanette! Can't wait to come back! |
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Jennifer Munzert, SImpsonville, SC
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| 03/05/09 |
Positive
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| Our weekend (unfortunately that was all) was pure heaven. High up in the heavens over looking the world. So peaceful and beautiful. The home was just perfect as it had everything you could need. It felt like home except that I never wanted to leave and cannot wait to go back. |
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Bonnie Byers, Greenville SC
864-232-5451 |
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| 03/05/09 |
Positive
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| WOW! What a beautiful place! The pictures do not even do this home justice, I was blown away from the first moment I walked in the door! This felt like the Wilderness Lodge at Disney with all the great decorations & furniture (loved the chair with bear carvings!!) And the view was absolutely breathtaking - especially at night seeing the town below lit up! Spent most of the time on the wonderful screened porch (never even had a desire to turn on the tv, too much nature to watch!). It was foggy & rainy for some of of our stay, yet even that was beautiful & so pretty to watch the fog roll out over the town below. Loved that this rental home felt like such a HOME (well a really really NICE HOME), not just a rental, with all the soft towels, sheets, comfy beds, stocked kitchen, etc. Cannot say enough about how great this trip was at BearPaw - thank you for opening your home & sharing - WILL DEFINITELY BE BACK!! |
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Jaime S. Johnson, Greenville, SC |
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| 12/17/08 |
Positive
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My family (6 adults) had a fabulous time at Bear Paw in October 2008. Definitely the "Ritz Carlton" of cabins!! Lots of space to be with each other and lots of space to get away from each other when desired! :-)
If you are thinking about booking Bear Paw in the future, do not hesitate. It's AWESOME!
Dr. C. |
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Anonymous, Jacksonville, Florida |
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| 11/13/08 |
Positive
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| My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our one week stay during late October 2008! A very comfortable, romantic and private getaway with spectacular views. We were fortunate to wake up to a white blanket of snow one morning. Good location...close to Franklin, Highlands/Cullasaja Gorge, Waynesville and the Smoky Mountains National Park. |
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Richard Reis, Lake Worth, Florida
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| 11/11/08 |
Positive
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"Bear Paw" what a fantastic retreat!! Jeanette, thank you for sharing you wonderful home. We have vacationed in many rental properties and I can truthfully say that your home is one that we will come back to. I am a vacation rental agent that manages 30+ rental homes. I would love to have "Bear Paw" in my rental program.
Your home is very warm, inviting and offers all the comforts of home, the gourmet kitchen is great. Once you arrive you don't want leave. The Mountain Views are just awe inspiring, nature abounds here. Feeding the tiny flying squirrels is such a treat.
You have done a fantastic job furnishing this home, rarely do you see such attention to detail and this caliber of furnishings in a rental property. Thank you for the specific details and instructions on arrival and getting to the house, we experienced no difficulties in reaching our destination, the Bear Paw indicators along the way guided us right to Bear Paw.
Franklin is such a charming place to visit, there is much to see and do in the beautiful Smokey Mountains. This is definately a place that we will return to next year.
Alicen & Gary Crosby |
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Alicen Crosby, Tennessee
828-347-5651 |
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| 09/01/08 |
N/A |
Guest Comment Entered By Homeowner:
Dear Jeanette,
I am unable to access VRBO to accept my house commentary. I'll type it into the body of this email and, if you're willing, let you put it on your website for me.
Our 8 day stay at Bear Paw was everything we'd hoped for. The house is beautiful, the mountain view lovely. For nature lovers, it's a paradise, made even more special by a wonderful, big, new home in an unusually private location. We marveled daily at the numbers of birds which came to the feeders and thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the elegant screened porch, watching them. The tiny, shy, flying squirrels which came every evening were a delight. Being up on top of this mountain made us feel as if we were in our very own royal domain and we loved every minute of our vacation there. We hope to go again.
I filled in the necessary info --- Monty and Lillie Montgomery, Cocoa Beach, Florida --- but the first effort was refused with an 'insufficient data' message. The second and third efforts were met with a message saying there was an error on the website and would I please report it --- or something similar to that, anyhow. Could you enter my commentary for me?
From Jeanette: Done! Thank you Lillie. Hope to see you again soon!!!!
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Monty and Lillie Montgomery
Cocoa Beach, Fl.
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| 09/01/08 |
Positive
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| Our 8 day stay at Bear Paw was everything we'd hoped for. The house is beautiful, the mountain view lovely. For nature-lovers, it's a paradise, made even more special by a wonderfully big, new, log home in an unusually private location. We marveled daily at the numbers of birds which came to the feeders and thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the elegant screened porch, watching them. The tiny, shy, flying squirrels which came every evening were a delight. Being up on top of Jeanette's mountain made us feel as if we were in our very own royal domain and we loved every minute of our vacation there. We hope to go again. |
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lillie and monty montgomery, cocoa beach, florida
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| 06/09/08 |
Positive
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This was by far the nicest vacation home that we have ever stayed at. The view is outstanding and so relaxing. It makes you forget about the hustle and bustle of the city. The home is not far from the city of Franklin with all of its amenities. Plus all the comforts of home, satellite TV, DVD, and surround sound, gourmet kitchen, screened in porch, and the views from the deck cannot be describe, because they are to grand.
The owners made us feel welcome and very easy to talk to. She was able to provide us with some brochures about the surrounding area gem mines and restaurants. She even called while we were there to make sure we had everything we needed. It is so nice to get the personnel touches.
We had great time gem mining and visited the Biltmore house. The Fun Factory was a great place to visit for the family and eat. We also visited the waterfalls near the Highlands. I wished we could have stayed longer, to try some the trout fishing. These were some of the activities that we did to give you an idea what Franklin has to offer.
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John and Nancy Waller, St. Louis, MO |
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Homeowner Response:
Thank you John and Nancy! jcp
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| 05/15/08 |
Positive
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My husband and I had the privledge of being the first guests to stay at Bearpaw and we are still in awe of its beauty and tranquility. We have stayed in some beautiful places before, but the views and furnishings were amazing. The beautiful decorating was so well done that we felt at home, not at someone else's home. The kitchen is to die for... gourmet chefs would be at home in this kitchen.
The drive up the road to the house is a "bear" but that is the only drawback about this property. The flying squirrels and raccoon are a delight to watch every night. The photos do not do it justice, this is a perfect adult getaway. We didn't want to leave! I highly recommend this property for a private getaway. We were so refreshed and renewed after our stay that we look forward to going tto "Bearpaw" again.
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Malinda, Fort Smith, AR |
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Homeowner Response:
Thank you! As we thought, and talked about prior to the rental, our private mountain road does require front wheel/all wheel or 4x4. I thought rear wheel drive trucks would have a hard time. Thanks for helping us determine that rear wheel drive trucks and/or any type Van are not suitable for this location. SUV's, sedans w/front wheel drive or all wheel drive, or a 4x4 are needed. JP
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| 03/17/06 |
Positive
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We have been coming to the Western NC mountains for many years. We have stayed in hotels, another rental home and a Bed & Breakfast. I have to say out of all the places we have stayed, The Elizabeth House has been the best. It really does make us feel like we are in our own home. It is so comfortable and relaxing to be there. We have stayed there in July and watched the beautiful birds in the morning outside the living room window along with a daily visit from a squirrel who took a few nibbles of the bird food as well. We have also been there in February, which turned out to be a surprising winter wonderland for a few days. It was beautiful. Plus, they cleared the road in the morning so there was no problem getting out and about. The property has great mountain views and is close to everything there is to do in the area. We will always stay at The Elizabeth House when we come to Western NC as long as Jeanette owns it.(or sells it to us! hint hint)
Thanks for sharing your home - it truly is a home away from home, I highly recommend it!
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Lisa & Steve Herzog, Cape Coral, FL |
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| 08/22/05 |
Positive
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This house was outstanding. Attention to EVERY detail was taken to make visitors feel welcome. Just bring your clothes means "just bring your clothes"
The house is centrally located in Western NC making day trips to major attactions possible.
We enjoyed the serenity and solitudde on those day we chose to go no where.
10 Minutes from town and shopping this is an ideal location.
Our next trip to NC will take us back! We promise.
Thanks Jeanette and Denny for sharing your home with us.
Jim and Kelly |
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Jim Martin, Bartow, FL
(863) 533-6269 |
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| 08/21/05 |
Positive
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Dear Jeanette,
I just had to personally take the time to sit and write you a special thank you for sharing the Elizabeth House with us.
From the moment we pulled up I kept saying to Jim, "Are you sure this is the house?!" I mean we expected lovely, not beautiful! But sure enough the sign read "The Elizabeth House' and we knew we were home, at least home for the next 5 days.
I wish you could have seen our faces when we walked in. Yes, it looked just like the pics you emailed us, only better. And sparkling clean! "My house should be so clean!" I say to Jim.
We oohed and aahed all through the house, marveling that there was not one thing we had need of. We had already shopped at Ingles for a few days worth of food but was still amazed at how many wonderful things were there. Wine glasses for our Biltmore wine? Check! Candles in case the lights go out? Check! Check! Check! Check!
Half of the fun was reading all the literature of places to visit and menus to consider. But the best of all was the Peace of God that resides there! I have to admit that it was a little spooky to me the first night but the Lord comforted my heart by reminding me that that house had been dedicated to Him from its start and that His Peace and Protection lived there. And does it ever!
The Elizabeth house will live in our hearts always! What a place of beauty and rest! By reading through the other guests raves and messages I understand that the Elizabeth House also has a sad tale as well, I sensed that perhaps it involved your daughter. I'm so sorry for whatever tragedy took place. Perhaps you would like to share the heart of the Elizabeth House on a plaque. That would not sadden anyones visit, just cause them perhaps to love the House even more.
Just so you know, when we left, Jim and I took hands and prayed over the Elizabeth House; her owner, her upcoming guests and for all that would ever enter there.
We pray that one day God will send us back!
Gratefully yours,
Laura Dahne
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Jim and Laura Dahne, South Florida, Florida
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Homeowner Response:
(Note to readers: Comments prior to 2008 are for our first home, The Elizabeth House. We have sold this home and started a new one, "BearPaw". This will still show you the accomodation to detail and personal touch that we pride ourselves on. Thanks)
Dear Jim and Laura, thank you for your wonderful response. This home was oour designed by a wonderful young artist, Elizaheth, whose life, tragically, was ended too soon by an auto accident on the actual day of our agreement to purchase. The home is dedicated in her memory, "The Elizabeth House". Jeanette Peel, RN
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