Hickory Hill Cabins review
(Franklin, W Va; there are also…read moresome Hickory Hill Cabins in Oklahoma.)
3 cabins on a wooded hillside. Cabins 3 and 4 have kitchens with some pans and dishes and silverware, big fridges, stoves, and microwave, and kitchen sinks; cabin 1-2 (divided single building) has only small fridges. Also small dressers (3 drawers). Showers about 2x4 to 3x6 with seat in one corner. Sinks are in bedrooms, OUTside shower/toilet room. Log cabins, metal roofs, sturdy and clean. All electric. Landlords seemed accommodating to us, so if you need something special, you might ask. (We may've put extra children in our room). Ceiling fans. Two double beds per cabin, smaller and harder than ours at home. Beds were made when we arrived (NOT made daily). Toilet paper supplied, but not soap nor shampoo. (There's a motel in town if you need daily attentions.) A/C in cabin 2 worked as fan only (unit 30 years old, with 2 adults 4 children 1-7 in room; weather lows 50ish highs 70ish, September 23-25 A.D. 2011). Acorns hit roofs now and then. No Gideon Bibles. Cabins are several dozen feet apart, and it's dark at night (driveway unlit); bring flashlights. At least one light bulb outside a door did not work, and toilet seat (clean, comfy, cheap) needed securing. I think ATT cell phone worked, others did not.
Hillside slopes 10-30 degrees or so. Trees widely spaced. Much more moss than undergrowth; easy to walk through (except for steepness.) Driveways workable--my sister got her big van with camping trailer up--but one narrow lane up the hillside. Cabins pretty much by themselves; no intrusive neighbors. (Hunting season? We heard a few gunshots across the valley midafternoon.) There's a grassy field with a few degrees slope, big enough for a children's' baseball game. Small earthen dam, pond was maybe 10 feet wide and 2 feet deep (if that) when we were there (family reunion Sept 23-25; might reach 30x4 with a lot of rain?); Frogs. Two old (A.D. 1920s?) graves near dam. The website invites campfires, and there's a space below the cabins where we had one.
Grocery store (not huge, but has all the usual) is about 1 1/2 mile south of cabins (from cabins go left, south, on US-220, grocery is left behind Fox's Pizza); also Laundromat, restaurants, Dollar store, etc. (Small town; 45 minutes to Wal-mart.) Grocery is open 8am-8pm, Sundays 10-6. (Small town; shuts down at night.)
Three stars out of five; it is what it is. Worked for us--family gathering with scrambled planning.
GETTING THERE
About a mile north on US-220 from where US-33 goes off west, mostly downhill, after 4 smallish houses in a row on the right is a big wood sign marking Hickory Hill Cabins on right. The driveway is called "Lincoln Lane," with a small green street sign.
If coming in from Virginia, buy gas in Virginia, save 25 cents/gallon or so. (Remember, this review is based on a September '11 visit, so everything is subject to change.) US 33 from Harrisonburg VA to Franklin WVa is curvy and steep (rises to 3450 feet above sea level). My sister's van with trailer made heavy weather of the hill. (Might use US 220 north through Petersburg?--hills but less mountain?) WVa has passing lanes here and there on the hill; VA has short gravel pull-offs. Hiking parking lot at top of ridge. Watch out for bridge construction at foot of Wva side (as of Sept 25 '11), and speed traps on VA side (straight, downhill, and only 55, man?)
For weather forecasts, go to www.weather.com and ask about zip code 26807.
Website for cabins: http://www.hickoryhillcabinswv.com/cabins.html . The home top photo shows cabin 3 at left, cabin 1-2 in center, office cabin (usually no one there) at right. Bottom left photo, cabin 1. Bottom right, cabins 3 and 4 with driveway. Center photo, field? Cabins & rates photos show kitchen; kitchen table; bedroom with corner of sink (inside cabin 3 or 4; in cabin 2 the outside door is between the beds.)
Other photos repeats (as of 27 September.)