Twenty-two cabin rooms and log suites on a five-acre property at the village crossroads, with the on-site Whiteside Brewing Company on the lawn, the most contemporary small hotel on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau.
"You can walk to dinner, walk to a brewery you do not need to drive to, and sleep in a cabin with a real porch. Cashiers does not need a five-star resort to be excellent, and The Wells is the proof of the case."
The Wells Hotel sits on a quiet five-acre parcel directly at the Cashiers crossroads (NC-107 and US-64), a position that puts the village's restaurant row, the General Store, the Farmers Market, and the start of the Whiteside Mountain trail all within a short walk. The current property emerged from a 2019 rebuild and rebrand of the older Laurelwood Inn under new ownership, which kept the small-scale cabin layout but reset the room product and added the Whiteside Brewing Company taproom on the lawn. The result is the only genuinely contemporary small hotel in Cashiers, and the only one a guest can leave on foot.
Accommodation is twenty-two keys split across four categories. The Brewers Cabin (the smallest, queen bed, log walls, a small porch, the original cabin frames retained from the Laurelwood era) is the value play. Deluxe Doubles offer two king beds and a sitting area, a fit for travelling friends and small groups. Log Suites and Cabins add kitchenettes, separate living areas, and full porches with rocking chairs, the better choice for two-night-plus stays. Every room is air-conditioned with private bathroom, kitchenette or wet bar, balcony or porch, and WiFi throughout the property. Interiors lean contemporary mountain (timber, brushed steel, neutral linens) rather than the more familiar lodge cliche; the rooms feel new because they largely are.
The defining amenity is Whiteside Brewing Company, the property's on-site brewery and taproom on the front lawn, named for the cliff that frames the south side of the village. The taproom runs eight house beers, a small barrel-aged programme, and a wood-fired pizza kitchen that runs until late on weekends. It is genuinely the village's brewery, drawing locals as much as hotel guests, and the proximity makes The Wells the only hotel on the Plateau where guests do not need to drive after dinner. Breakfast is a curated continental in the lobby; the hotel does not run a full dining programme, leaning instead on the village's restaurant row, all of which is a flat walk away.
Service is small, warm, and entirely Southern. The front desk is staffed by name, the housekeeping team has been with the property since the rebrand, and front-of-house genuinely knows the village. The brand registers as "boutique" in the lower price band ($245 to $400 in most rooms) rather than chasing the luxury bracket that High Hampton, Old Edwards, and Greystone occupy, and the property is honest about it. The Wells does not pretend to be a resort. What it does, it does cleanly: contemporary rooms, walkable village, an on-site brewery, and the most flexible group booking on the Plateau.
For a solo Plateau weekend, The Wells is the cleaner booking than the bigger resorts. The Brewers Cabin is a generous studio at the value end, the village is fully walkable from the door, and the taproom is the kind of room a single guest can sit in without ceremony. Pair it with Whiteside Mountain hike (10 minutes by car, 1.5 hours round trip), Silver Run Falls (6 minutes), and a quiet evening on the porch for a properly self-contained reset.
For an anniversary at the smaller, lower-key end of the village, book a Log Suite with the full porch and kitchenette. The Wells is the right choice for couples who want the Plateau without the resort scaffolding: walk to dinner at the village's better tables (Cornucopia, The Orchard, Slabtown Pizza), drink at the brewery on the way home, sleep with the windows open. Bring a bottle for the porch.
The Wells is the village's best group booking. Block six to eight Log Suites, take the brewery taproom as your central meeting room, and the village's restaurant row is walkable for the whole weekend. The property tolerates groups in a way that the more formal resorts on the Plateau do not. Pair the brewery with a guided hike on Whiteside Mountain, a tubing run on the Horsepasture, and a round at Sapphire National for a full long weekend with no driving after dark.
58 NC Highway 107 North
Cashiers, NC 28717
United States
At the NC-107 / US-64 crossroads in the centre of Cashiers village; 65 miles southwest of Asheville Regional Airport (AVL)
22 rooms and suites
Brewers Cabin from $245/night
Deluxe Double from $295/night
Log Suite from $395/night
Cabin to $725/night peak
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Rebuilt and rebranded 2019 from the former Laurelwood Inn; on-site Whiteside Brewing Company
On-site Whiteside Brewing Company taproom
Wood-fired pizza kitchen
All rooms with kitchenette or wet bar
Porches, balconies, rocking chairs
Walkable to village restaurant row
Complimentary WiFi throughout
From $245/night. Log Suites and Cabins book four to six weeks ahead for leaf season (mid-October) and summer weekends; one to two weeks ahead for shoulder months. Two-night minimum on most weekends.
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New openings, special offers, and the week’s best value suites. One email a week, no noise.