FOOD MUSEUM ~ SLEEP ~ SHOP ~ COOKING CLASSES ~ WINERIES

It has been our joy to receive calls all night long and for days after each appearance of being on Wheel of Fortune six times over six years!!!

Now guided by Ryan Seacrest with co-host Vanna White, the show continues to captivate roughly 8.3 million viewers every night, making each appearance a powerful national showcase for 40+ years.

The prize delivers:

• Prime-time exposure to millions of viewers.
• Credibility through our repeated selection as a premier getaway.
   

One Grand Prize winner of a Ford Explorer XLT was Tennia Smith who spent four years active duty in the Navy and won us (a one week all expense paid vacation with round-trip airfare for two) as a Prize Wedge with the winning phrase of CORN ON THE COB WITH LOTS OF BUTTER. We then took that to a News Release for the week when she stayed with her husband, Ray, and they appeared in the news with a platter of, you guessed it, corn on the cob (and it had lots of butter)!!! The local news tie in was hilarious!

The Hallmark Channel was so wonderful to pair up with Debbie Macomber and her winning book series on Cedar Cove from 16 Lighthouse Road for a promotion with ILoveInns.com!!! 

We received table tents, door hangers, and postcards to place around the inn. "Based on the bestselling book series by Debbie Macomber, Cedar Cove centers on the residents of the small town of Cedar Cove.  

2030 inns participated as we attained the #1 Cable Position for Saturday nights.  

MIND BOGGLING RESPONSE AND BIG MAILING LIST: About one million Cedar Cove viewers entered the sweepstakes and contests that included Inn Stays and more than 50% - 523,000 clicked "send me bed and breakfast information".

Our disabled U.S. military veterans group from Grover and Charlotte, NC—led by Marti and Stormy Mongiello—earned rare attention from ABC’s Shark Tank producers, advancing through two rounds, over two years, with a pitch to expand our  thriving inn, museum, cooking school, and gift shop. Our vision isn’t just hospitality—it’s a mission to help other veterans launch small businesses and franchises. Our proposal stands out as one of the boldest ever considered on the show, a multi-million-dollar ask that pushes the limits of Shark Tank history.

The exposure draws interest from private investors and continues to inspire veteran entrepreneurs nationwide. The Producers decided our ASK was to high for the typical award on the show. As disabled veterans, we turn military grit into business success—building wealth, creating jobs, and transforming service into opportunity. Our journey keeps making waves, showing that determination and sweat equity powerfully shape America’s entrepreneurial landscape.

Enjoy the Oscar-nominated film we worked on, Alone Yet Not Alone, as a Principal Military Advisor, set during the French and Indian War. 

Alone Yet Not Alone is based on the inspirational, true story of Barbara and Regina Leininger, two immigrant sisters forced to embark on a journey of faith that will lead them through the darkness of war into the light of freedom. 

We worked on this film at the Alcoa, TN shoot site with vast fake snow on the ground and roofs. We were a paid contingent including several colleagues of Matt Dyer, our daughter Melody Blakely, Rania "Barry" Mongiello, Marti Mongiello, and Stormy Mongiello. Our group brought several others and worked in a paid status as well as received additional bonus monies for custom American Indian shaving. See all of our film work here across the world and Hollywood.

We bring the White House experience to life wherever we go. In each city, we host cooking classes where guests learn to recreate iconic presidential dishes. We share behind-the-scenes stories of America’s First Families, mixing humor and history to keep audiences laughing. The evening peaks with a White House Master Chefs State Dinner, serving favorite presidential recipes with elegance, storytelling, First Ladies Fave Cocktails, and a touch of showmanship.

The Cleveland County Chamber held a 'Hunger Games'-themed annual award banquet on January 30, 2014, at the LeGrand Center in Shelby. At the 2015 event we were nominated for the Travel and Tourism Award.

Chefs Stormy and Marti accepted the surprising award on stage that is now displayed proudly at the inn.  The entire team of chefs, maintenance experts and artists of the local area deserve a round of applause.

Our green initiatives and the highest awards available have not come easy.  From the TripAdvisor awards to the state of NC programs. We have received the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence and the GreenLeaders Silver level award from them, as well as the state of North Carolina's highest green award, Three Dogwood Blossoms. We believe in a beautiful planet for our daughters and grandkids.  And for their children as well.

To that end, here are a few of the items we are doing:

• The used soap and shampoo collection has been sent to the Global Soap Project, which makes new, sanitized soap for Africa out of it.
• Cheap Embarrassing Plastic Bags Program - nothing could be more embarrassing than to use grocery store bags in our trash cans, to the chagrin of guests.  "How low-class this place is!"  But actually, it has earned us high marks from most guests for collecting them from the community and reusing them, giving them a second life.
• The CFL program was initially implemented full building-wide, then converted to a complete LED program.
• New energy-efficient dishwasher, refrigerator, and washer installed. From 2022 to 2025, we near-finalized new large-scale mechanical systems for ESTAR HVAC machinery.
• Easter Egg Chickens, an on-site hatching farm, hatched farm-fresh green eggs daily from 2008 to 2024, when the law changed regarding eggs for guests.
• Utilizing leftovers for composting or the chicken feed program.
• Lint and dryer sheet capture program to start fires with.
• The addition of a specialized polymer to antique windows to save energy usage.
• Rain water capture barrels installed.
• Egg shell, tea and coffee grind capture to 40' long compost pit on 1776 farm.
• Growing of blueberries, lemons, figs, apples, rosemary, basil, tomatoes, chocolate mint, orange mint, spearmint, Italian flat leaf parsley, green and red peppers, garlic, lettuces, lemon verbana, strawberries, squash, pumpkins, patty pans and watermelons on our 1776 farm. 
• Hanging towel cards for bathrooms encouraging guest system of saving water.
• Large blanket program in each room, in each outdoor lounge and in living room for guests to use and enjoy instead of using energy to become comfortable.
• Solar panel lights for ground lighting and all lanterns across revolutionary war site.
• Recycling of plant bottoms to regrow lettuce, garlic, pineapple, and celery.

Marti and Stormy Mongiello’s culinary and hospitality legacy shines on the front cover of the 25th anniversary edition of I LOVE INNS, the definitive guide to America’s best bed and breakfasts. 

Their feature signals national recognition of their innkeeping excellence, innovative guest experiences, and unique role as a former White House Master Chef. Gracing the cover of such a milestone edition underscores their influence in the bed-and-breakfast world and celebrates their contributions to preserving heritage hospitality while delighting travelers across the country.

Somewhere in Gaston County, the folks at the Travel and Tourism Authority are likely grinning from ear to ear about our "Moon Rocks and King's Pinnacle summits and peaks reached! Global superstar Ed Sheeran, the British singer-songwriter behind chart-topping hits like “The A Team” and “Shape of You,” made an unexpected stop in the county on Sunday before lighting up the stage in Charlotte.

Rather than resting up for his show, Sheeran laced up his hiking boots and tackled our trails at Crowders Mountain State Park, soaking in the sweeping Carolina views. His visit didn’t stay secret for long—the adventure was captured and shared on Instagram, where millions of followers got a glimpse of Gaston County’s natural beauty. The impromptu hike turned a quiet local landmark into a buzzworthy destination overnight, giving us a fun, local surprise marketing boost courtesy of one of the world’s biggest music icons.

In 1977, it was still ten years before Earl Owensby would partner with blockbuster producer James Cameron - creator of Titanic and Avatar! Before our local hero, Earl, partnered with James to film THE ABYSS inside of an unfinished nuclear reactor plant in Gaffney (becoming the, then, largest underwater sound stage in the world), he would shoot a slew of films locally.

Called "E.O.," he used mostly unknown talent in its productions, and many well-known names came through its doors. 1984's Gremloids, which E.O. produced in conjunction with Regency Productions, featured comedians Paula Poundstone and Chris Elliott, while the action film Hooch (1977) (IMDB link) starred Gil Gerard, known for his turn on the TV show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Danny Aiello. Catch the trailer for the movie here, or watch it on DVD here.

The Oscar-nominated 1984 film Reuben, Reuben, starring Tom Conti and Kelly McGillis, though not produced by the studio, was filmed on the studio's lot as did 1987's Florida Straits (with Raul Julia and Fred Ward). Director Worth Keeter, who helmed eight films for E.O., became a regular director for the Power Rangers franchise. Power Rangers is still going strong today.

Our family home was used for a shoot-out, a mafia hotel to stay in, kidnapping, and eventual escape from (at high speed) - and for the MOONSTRUCK, THE GODFATHER, and DO THE RIGHT THING star, Danny Aiello - this was one of his first films. He stayed in the Oceanicus Blue Dreams Room on the top right of the stairs. More recently, stars like Ed Sheeran, Diana Gabaldon (Outlander), Kevin Spacey, Presidents Hoover, Ford, & Carter, & Bill Paxton (Titanic, True Lies, Aliens, Apollo 13) have walked the local neighborhood. 

 Best-selling author Diana Gabaldon, creator of the beloved Outlander series, brought her research trail straight to Kings Mountain National Military Park—right in our backyard. Seeking authentic Revolutionary War details for her time-traveling saga, Gabaldon walked the same hallowed ground where Patriots and Loyalists clashed in 1780. While exploring the battlefield, she paused at the park’s iconic Historic Obelisk, snapping a photo of herself beside the towering monument. That snapshot became a quiet tribute to the real history that fuels her fictional world—linking her epic storytelling to the very soil where the Battle of Kings Mountain turned the tide of the Revolution. Her visit not only anchored Outlander in genuine Carolina history but also spotlighted the park as a living source of inspiration for millions of readers worldwide.

From the moment Thomas Jefferson declared that the Battle of Kings Mountain changed the entire course of the American Revolution, this battlefield has carried weight far beyond its rugged slopes. Jefferson wrote that when all of the South had fallen, Lord Cornwallis sat in captured Charlotte—holding South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia under British control—after General Gates’s army had been crushed and the last United States force in the South seemed doomed. Kings Mountain was the spark that turned despair into momentum, a victory that reshaped the Revolution’s future.

For the 150th anniversary of that pivotal clash, President Herbert Hoover stood at Kings Mountain National Military Park as keynote speaker, addressing a breathtaking crowd of nearly 100,000 people. Decades later, President Jimmy Carter shocked visitors with a surprise visit, his Secret Service detail trailing as he quietly paid his respects. And in 1980, President Gerald Ford came for the 200-year anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence celebration and parade in Charlotte—delivering a historic speech that tied the Revolution’s legacy to the modern South. 

A commemorative bronze coin, minted especially for Ford’s bicentennial visit, now gleams under glass on our museum’s second-floor exhibit space—a tangible reminder of how Kings Mountain continues to echo through American history.