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East Coast luxury: Four “mansion hotels” that allow pet dogs

Back in January, this article from CNN (“8 elegant U.S. mansion hotels“) caught my eye — or, more accurately, the combination of the headline and the photo of Newport’s gorgeous Chanler Hotel caught my eye. Surely some of those beauties must be pet-friendly, I thought, and this weekend I finally made the time to find out.

It turns out that five of the eight featured hotels do allow pet dogs to join their owners. The Chanler, alas, is not one of them. Don’t set your heart on Tarrytown’s Castle Hotel or San Jose’s Hayes Mansion either; per the front desk staff, both places only open their doors to service animals. And while the Castle Hill Resort & Spa in Cavendish, VT does allow pet dogs, its only pet-friendly rooms are in the Pointe Hotel, which lacks the history and charm of the main building. (For those of you who remain undaunted, Castle Hill’s current pet policy is as follows: Standard rooms with 2 queen beds in the Pointe Hotel only; $40/night fee; multiple pets okay.)

Charleston's Wentworth Mansion hotel (the Garden Rooms are pet-friendly)

Charleston’s Wentworth Mansion hotel (the Garden Rooms are pet-friendly)

With that chaff out of the way, here’s the wheat, listed in order of their appeal for me (the CNN article provides links to the hotels’ websites, and I’ve provided links to pet policies where they exist — otherwise, I gathered the pet policy details via phone calls):

Wentworth Mansion (Charleston, South Carolina) — The Garden Rooms, located on the ground floor, are pet-friendly; $25/night.

Wilburton Inn (Manchester Village, Vermont) — Certain rooms are pet-friendly, for (essentially) $40/night.

Keswick Hall at Monticello (Keswick, Virginia) — Any of the rooms may be occupied by guests with pets; $75/per night per pet; 75 lb. limit; multiple pets allowed.

Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club (Lenox, Massachusetts) — Certain rooms are pet-friendly; one time fee of $50.