Small Business Spotlight: The Cotton Gin Inn

By Hannah Lee Leidy | Tuesday, January 15, 2019

For most of us, moving to a new state, buying a home or starting a business venture in unfamiliar territory would be a big step at any point in life. But that didn’t stop Cheryl Orr from jumping into all three … and to all three at the same time. 

The Cotton Gin InnCheryl moved to Edenton from Charleston, South Carolina, in 2016. Just a couple of months later, she opened The Cotton Gin Inn. The 6-acre property sits beyond downtown on U.S. Highway 17. It’s a bucolic setting infused with Southern elegance, complete with cultivated gardens, towering trees, retired cotton gin buildings and a cottage in addition to the home itself.

The property was on the market when Cheryl and her husband considered moving to Edenton. She knew that she wanted to own an inn, but other properties she visited in the area weren’t quite the fit for her. Finally, at the end of one of her home-hunting visits, she got a tip about a particular home off of Highway 17. After ensuring that she could secure the proper zoning, Cheryl opened The Cotton Gin Inn and began her innkeeping career.

Rooms at the Cotton Gin InnOwning an inn was a dream that tied into Cheryl’s other interests: hospitality, marketing, interior decorating and catering. Aside from a cleaning crew that comes in weekly, Cheryl manages all duties as the innkeeper and owner herself. Before then, she lived in various cities across the country, from Charleston to Chicago to Boulder and beyond. She worked as a chef, leading cooking classes and demos at businesses such as Williams Sonoma and Southern Season.

The Cotton Gin Inn is more than a bed and breakfast that channels that quintessential atmosphere of Southern hospitality. Cheryl’s culinary and catering expertise inspired her to take a different approach to her new inn. She began offering The Cotton Gin Inn’s Supper Clubs, in which anyone can join these monthly dinners for just a dollar. Cheryl usually orients them around different holidays throughout the year, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving and in the upcoming months Mardi Gras and Saint Patrick’s Day. These dinners are popular for both locals and visitors, some of whom stay at the inn and others who don’t. Most of the Supper Club dinners welcome about a dozen people to the table. However, when the weather is nice, Cheryl likes to have the event on the porch, which can seat up to 50.

Cooking Classes at the Cotton Gin InnGuests don’t just break bread around the dinner table at The Cotton Gin Inn – they break it (and bake it) in the kitchen too. In addition to the Supper Clubs, Cheryl incorporates her love of cooking into regular cooking classes at the inn. Most classes occur every Friday or Saturday, and she offers private sessions upon request. These themed classes explore either the cuisine of a particular area – Cheryl’s favorites being French, Mediterranean and Southern – or cooking around a certain dish or ingredient – such as puff pastry dishes or chocolate prepared in sweet and savory ways. Each class’s menu includes a starter, entree and dessert, and the dishes are eaten in the kitchen once they’re ready.

The classes are designed for participants with cooking experience ranging from nonexistent to seasoned chefs. The ingredients are prepped and ready to go beforehand, and Cheryl guides attendees through the proper way to toss pizza dough, make a souffle rise or shape pasta. For Cheryl, the best part of the cooking classes is seeing people's fascination with the process and their excitement at making a new dish that's hot and ready to eat. One of her favorite memories was a class attended by a group of college-aged boys and their parents. The boys had little to no cooking experience, and their amazement at seeing their puff pastry transform from flat dough into flaky, golden pillows delighted Cheryl.

“I always hold my breath until the last second, thinking ‘Oh, what if their souffle falls or what if they don’t like how something tastes,’” says Cheryl. “But that’s never happened!”

The Cotton Gin Inn is a destination to stay, to learn a new skill or to enjoy good food while making new friends. Check out the schedule of cooking classes to see what makes your mouth water, or if you’re planning an upcoming getaway, take advantage of the inn’s markdowns on room rates through February and part of March.

All photo credits to The Cotton Gin Inn.

About the Author Hannah Lee Leidy
Hannah Lee is a fiction and creative nonfiction writer living on the Outer Banks. She graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. Traveling is her passion, but nowhere ever feels as much like home as the Outer Banks. When not planning her next trip or adventure, Hannah Lee loves aimless drives down the Beach Road, spending copious amounts of time in coffee shops and reading every short story collection she gets her hands on.