Accommodations
The Blair House provides 4 guest suites each with bedroom, sitting room and private bath. Each suite has individual temperature control, Cable TV and DVD player, telephone and gas log fireplaces. A full breakfast is provided with complimentary snacks and beverage available. The Blair House is smoke-free; smoking is permitted on the porches.
Rates
$90.00-$95.00 per night plus tax
History
Lawyer Joseph Reese Blair moved to Troy in the 1880s to establish his practice. He built his home starting in 1893 on the corner of Main and Blair Streets. He chose the Queen Anne style with gables and gingerbread. He lived there as a bachelor for 10 years before marrying Ada Allen in 1905. During their brief 9 year marriage the Blairs entertained elegantly at the home that they loved. Reese Blair was well known in state politics serving in Raleigh as a representative and a senator. Mr. Blair died in 1914 after suffering a stroke at the courthouse. His son, Joseph Reese Blair II was born 5 months after his death.
Plans to remodel the house had been drawn before his death. In the late 1920’s Mrs. Blair completed the neo-classical exterior by adding the brick veneer and stately columns. Although greatly altered from its Victorian exterior, interior elements remain in the glorious gingerbread, exceptional stairway and colored glass windows.
As a widow, Mrs. Blair supplemented her income by offering lodging. During The Great Depression, the door was never locked. Guests would leave the fee of $1.00 in a basket by the door and find a bed on the second floor. Ada Allen Blair continued to live in the house as a widow until she was 92. She died in 1975 at age 99. She instilled her love of the Blair House, Troy and Montgomery County, NC in her only child, a doctor in the Army Medical Corps. Reese and his wife, Claudia Barton Blair, a pediatrician, raised 4 daughters and a son, moving from place to place. Time in the summer was spent at the Blair House. All the children loved visiting their Granny’s big house and Troy became “hometown”. After his retirement, Col. Blair returned to the Blair House. Before his death in 1991, daughter, JoAnn Blair-Adams joined him. She, her husband, Ron, and children lived in the house for 12 years.
A second renovation took place in 2002 when Claudia Blair Bulthuis, granddaughter of Ada and Reese Blair opened The Blair House Bed and Breakfast. Some of Mrs. Blair’s furniture is in the house along with family portraits and mementos. For over 100 years people have enjoyed the gracious home that lawyer Blair built.
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