It’s a groovy stay – baby! If Austin Powers paid a visit to Trenton, Georgia, he’d find his happy place at the Groovy Nomad Motel.
The 1950’s roadside motel on Highway 11 was formerly known as the Southland Motel. When I-59 opened and people bypassed the motel, it shuttered and was remodeled into efficiency apartments.
But thanks to the husband-and-wife team of Ryan and Melissa Faircloth, the motel has been restored and rejuvenated, back to the glory of its heyday, and then some.
The couple are natives of Dade County and Trenton. They’ve been married 27 years and, together, they are passionate about giving back to the community they call home. Revitalizing this treasured location was part of that.
“It became vacant,” Ryan explained. “The owner had passed away and his son had inherited it, but he just let it sit vacant for 13-14 years. Every day I drove by I’d look at it and say I’m going to buy that one day. Finally, we bought it, and we did what we did.”
Neither had any hospitality experience. Melissa is a real estate broker and Ryan spent several years in the furniture industry. But together they had purchased and flipped a few real estate properties.
It took a year to renovate the motel, and they started from scratch.
“We did everything,” Ryan said. “New wiring, new plumbing, new roof. The only thing that is original are the walls.”
“There was no plan,” Melissa admits. “We just went one room at a time. As it came up, we just went with it. The same with the exterior.”
What the couple did was use their knowledge of flipping properties and learned knowledge of design, to create an eclectic motel that maintains that 1950’s roadside vibe with an added bit of flair in what is now a far-out, funky-bougie destination location.
“She came up with the idea of making each room look different,” Ryan added. “The way room one, the Palm Springs room, the way it turned out, was like man I would love to stay here.”
Open now for roughly two years, the motel has 10 themed rooms. The Havana, Pac-Man, Palm Springs, Elvis’ Jungle, Flower Power, 1950’s Sci-Fi, Seriously 60’s, The Cheetah, Pretty In Pink, and the Traveling Hippie room.
Each room has its own bold features, colorful art and wallpaper. The Havana room has several paintings on the wall of the classic cars which still operate along the roads in central Cuba. The colors are deep, rich hues reminiscent of being inside the Tropicana Club, a place the couple has visited in the past.
The Pac-Man room has a functioning gaming table. The 1950’s Sci-Fi room has old movie posters adorning the wall from classics like King Kong and Reptilicus. All the rooms have a microwave and coffee machine, mini fridge with freezer, toiletries, TV, charging ports, heat and A/C, parking inside their parking lot and free day passes to Cloudland Canyon State Park. There is something to be seen and enjoyed in each room. They also created an outdoor seating area which features a firepit. On occasions they’ll set up the patio for Wednesday Wine celebrations for their visitors.
The couple recently received some praise for their design savvy from a professional designer from Naples, Florida. She told them they had nailed the décor, atmosphere and theme for each room.
“Hearing that from her, I thought, okay we did good,” Ryan said.
The couple say they stay busy, thanks, in part, to several spectacular wedding venues nearby. Some wedding parties book the entire motel for their special occasion.
They also received a boost by utilizing social media. Melissa created two Facebook posts, one of which went viral, attracting 40,000 followers.
“And this became a destination (location),” Ryan said. “People wanted to come here for this and then figure out what to do.”
“And now we captured repeat visitors,” Melissa said. “They want to come and stay in different rooms.”
The Groovy Nomad was recently used for a video shoot for musical artist, Lou Neal and her new country single set for release mid-November called, “Fixin’ Two.”
The motel has several attractions nearby as well as restaurants. The most popular is Cloudland Canyon State Park.
Other nearby attractions include, Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Wilderness Outdoor Movie Theater, Incline Railway, Lookout Mountain Flight Park, two world-class golf courses, as well as restaurants within minutes of their motel and others diners and attractions just 20 minutes away in downtown Chattanooga.
Weather permitting, the motel will play host to an Elvis Presley impersonator this Saturday performing at 7 p.m. with a Rockabilly contest starting at 6 p.m., and food trucks.
To put it in Austin Powers’ own words, this place is a cool place to stay, “Yeah baby, yeah.”
Explore the Groovy Nomad, their rooms, nearby attractions and book a stay online at: https://thegroovynomad.com/