On the market for $1,825,500, this home with plenty of history can be found in the small town of Burnsville, NC.

“It’s beautiful. It’s kind of like stepping back in time, to be quite honest with you,” says the listing agent, D’Ann Ford with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty. “All of the wood on the inside was cut from the property.”

Built in 1904 and measuring 4,845 square feet, the home has operated as The Buck House Inn since 2012.

“It’s very warm. When you walk in, there’s a certain smell and creakiness of the floor that just brings you back to homes back in the 1900s,” Ford explains, adding that she grew up in a similar home. “You walk in, and the fireplaces are in their original state—and the creaky floors. For me, it just brings back memories.”

Ford says the rooms within the vintage residence are separate, unlike the open floor plans typical of modern homes.

A large wraparound porch surrounds the entire home, perfect for surveying the beauty of the natural surroundings.

“It’s got several rocking chairs that you can sit on and listen to the creek that’s sitting right there,” she says. “You can probably hear the creek throughout the house, if you open the windows.”

The home was built by David and Pearl Buck, who owned a local timber company. Buildings where a sawmill, general store, and post office once operated still stand on the 7.5-acre property. Power to run all the machinery was supplied by the nearby creek.

“There used to be a railroad track that went to the property, where they would drop off the lumber. They were able to mill it and build the home,” Ford explains.

One of the old buildings, with two levels and utilities, serves as a storage area.

“If it was me, and I had enough money,” Ford says, “I would turn that into a cute, one-bedroom cottage.”

Another building on the property isn’t connected to electricity—yet. A buyer could remedy that and add to the property’s allure.

A restoration project began in the early 2000s revived the main house, which had sat empty for decades.

The current owners bought the property in 2012 and promptly opened their inn. It has five guest rooms, including a disability-accessible room on the first floor, as well as an owner’s suite on the third floor. Each room features an en suite bathroom.

Although the property spans multiple acres, the adjacent property makes it feel as if it was even bigger. It’s surrounded by 720 acres of conservation land, known as Bald Mountain Creek Nature Park.

A small gravel road goes around the property itself, then a bridge goes over the creek, onto the preserve.

“You could hike for hours if you wanted to,” Ford says. “So you kind of have all of this extra acreage that you don’t own, that you can make your playground.”

She adds that access to the Appalachian Trail sits close by.

Ford told us the current owners are ready to move on, and that if a buyer wanted to come and run the inn, the business entities could convey with the sale.

“You could make it a residential home, or you could continue to run it as the inn,” she says. “There are many options, and the owners understand that when the property does sell, that somebody may not continue with the work that they’ve done on it.”

Currently, the inn is only open about half the year, but many clients return annually for a visit.

The home is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it sits in the private, gated community of The Preserve at Wolf Laurel.

Ford notes all the property’s advantages: “You’ve got security, you’ve got setting, you’ve got privacy, and you’ve got the creek that’s babbling.”

For a buyer with fantasies of innkeeping in a historic home, it’s nearly too good to be true.

“It’s a dream for most people, and they wish they could find it,” she says. “And now, here it is.”