About the Owner

As a boy coming to visit his great grandmother and other relatives in Columbia, North Carolina Owner and Proprietor Lee Brickhouse fondly remembers walking past this beautiful old Victorian home with his little sister Lisa and always wanting to play on the wrap around porches.

Those memories planted the seeds of what was to become a beautiful bed and breakfast, The Brickhouse Inn. Each step in the road traveled was filled with life experiences that help make Lee the perfect bed and breakfast host.

Lee attended North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount. After graduation, Lee began his career in the hotel and restaurant industry. He was first employed by Marriott Education Services then with Machaven Caterers before moving to Virginia Beach to become involved with Country Club Management. Throughout his career Lee has also worked in all aspects of the restaurant industry from managing the esteemed Crow's Nest in Venice, Florida to Catering in London, England.

Although many of Lee's worldwide experiences took him far from home, he has always called The Outer Banks and Hampton Roads home. Lee was born in Norfolk Virginia, he is the son of Milton Lee Brickhouse, Sr.originally of Columbia, North Carolina and Karen Peterson Brickhouse, originally of Dare County, North Carolina. He was raised in the Virginia Beach area until his family moved to Currituck, NC where he attended high school.

While managing one on the Eastern Shore of Virginia Lee was bitten by the bed and breakfast bug. It was his love of cooking, entertaining guests and working in and around his home that drove him to someday be able to have a bed and breakfast of his very own. With the help of his family and friends this dream has finally come true.

Over the past 6 years Owner and Proprietor Lee Brickhouse has watched the Brickhouse Inn grow and prosper with the great town of Columbia. Lee has been honored to serve on the Board of Directors for the Greater Tyrrell County Chamber of Commerce. And has recieved numerous awards for his service over the years, including the 2003 Outstanding Business Leader of the Year Award from the Tyrrell County Chamber of Commerce. But Lee has the most pride in fact that each new year finds once first time guests now returning as old friends.

Bed and Breakfast History

Businessman and hotel owner Seldon M. Combs and his wife Martha built all or most of this house in the late 1890s, and Martha used the two front rooms on the first story (at the time, one large room) as her millinery shop. In 1904 George Hussey purchased the house and added the handsome wrap-around porch and the east side porch. Hussey also divided the millinery shop into two parlors and made other changes. George and Clinney Hussey sold the property in 1907 to E. P. Cahoon and his wife.

Three years later, Mr. Cahoon traded houses with grocer and country, official, Arthur L. Walker who had a house further down Main Street. According to A. L. Walker's descendants, Mr. Cahoon had asked A. L. how he liked his new home. Walker, who had only spent one night in the house, said he didn't much--the ducks in the neighboring pond kept him awake all night. He went on to ask E. P. Cahoon how much more he might want if they were to trade houses--and the deal was struck. A.L. presumably went back home that day and moved--and this wonderful house remained in his family for over 60 years.

In its final--and present--form, this jewel of the Columbia Historic District is a two-story gable-fronted frame home with weatherboard siding, asphalt shingle roofing, 2/2 sash windows with louvered shutters, scalloped mill work on the eaves and rake, and brick chimneys and enclosed side porch, and an enclosed breezeway connection to the main house. The one-story wrap-around porch added by Hussey features turned posts and balusters, sawn brackets, spindle friezes, small gables over arched section of frieze corresponding to the house's entryways, and a gazebo-like element at the northwest corner capped by a metal (previously wooden) finial. The tile hearth and fireplace surround.

In its present state, the newly-renovated bed and breakfast has served travelers from all over the globe. Modern amenities compliment the traditional decor throughout this beautiful home