The Colonial Inn is one of the oldest buildings operating as a boutique hotel in the state of North Carolina. This statuesque structure, nestled in the heart of downtown Historic Hillsborough, has currently been dated back to 1838. The Colonial Inn is a treasure that has an unrivaled past and stands proudly today despite enormous adversary. The building has seen and weathered the Revolutionary war on its very doorstep and braved the changing tides of our country ever since. From pillaging Union troops during the civil war to years of neglect, she has stood tall and unwavering.

Defined by the unmistakable beauty of history, longevity, and legacy, the inn boasts massive oak beams with hand-hewn ax marks and handmade nails in the walls of our current bar. Behind protective coverings are gorgeous L-beams carved and sturdy in the corners of the most historic rooms. Finally, open to admire, are gorgeous scarf joints where beams intermingle with one another on the second-story porch. The skeleton of the current inn is the very bones it was built upon. Although the inn has changed in the way of layers molded atop this framework, these most historic structural elements have stayed immaculately preserved. Throughout its years, it has seen many owners and various stages of wild success and desperate disrepair. This has led to one of the inn’s most endearing and mysterious qualities...that not one living person knows everything there is to know about this structure and its lifeline. With an ever-growing, dedicated and passionate team that includes historians, Hillsborough community members and inspired friends of the inn, and over the course of many years, the inn’s captivating story continues to unfold and its legacy continues. It is by the efforts of many and a pinch of luck that the doors are now wide open to welcome travelers, passersby and locals to rest, rejoice and revel in the history of The Colonial Inn.