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History

The Mast farm dates from the late 1700s, when Joseph Mast traveled to the mountains from Randolph County, North Carolina, where he was born in 1764. His father John had settled there after emigrating from Switzerland via Pennsylvania, where his brother remained. Joseph is said to have traded his rifle, his dog, and a pair of leggings for 1000 acres of fertile Watauga River Valley land. The first house, a two-room log cabin, was built around 1810 and remains today as the oldest inhabitable log cabin in Watauga County.

The farm and family prospered through the 19^th Century, and Finley and Josephine Mast built the first part of the farmhouse in the 1880s. Around the turn of the century, the Masts began offering meals and rooms to tourists, enlarging the house to accommodate the growing number of guests. By 1915, the inn had 13 bedrooms and one bath. It was called "the Mast Farm" or simply "Aunt Josie's and Uncle Finley's."

Aunt Josie Mast, besides running the house and managing the vegetable garden and dairy, was a master weaver. She turned the original log cabin into a loom house and became celebrated for her coverlets, rugs, and handbags. Some of her coverlets are in the Smithsonian today.

Uncle Finley and Aunt Josie's two sons did not continue the inn after their parents' deaths in the 1930s. Joe, the younger, who was blind, lived in the house until 1964, when ill health forced him to move away.

After Joe Mast died, the house stood empty or was briefly rented until 1984, when Francis and Sibyl Pressly bought the property and restored it. Once again, The Mast Farm Inn became a destination for visitors to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In June 1996, the Inn changed ownership when Wanda Hinshaw and Lyle Schoenfeldt, with daughter, Sarah, moved back to Wanda's home state from Texas. Wanda's sister, Kay Philipp, with her family had made Watauga County home for many years. Kay and Wanda were sister Innkeepers, just as in the old days, when Josie's sister, Leona, had worked with her at the Inn. Interestingly, the innkeepers are natives of the same Randolph County where Joseph Mast's family lived in the 1700s.

It certainly does seem that the Mast Farm Inn is destined to be cared for by sisters. On February 1st 2006, eight members of The Deschamps, Russo & Siano Family relocated together to The Valle Crucis community. Converging to Valle Crucis after having lived in France, England, Switzerland, Manhattan, Florida & North Carolina, they purchased the Mast Farm Inn from Wanda Hinshaw and Lyle Schoenfeldt, and The Taylor House Inn in Valle Crucis as well. They have begun in-depth restorations-renovations of the inns and properties. The new innkeepers of The Mast Farm Inn are sisters Sandra Deschamps Siano and Danielle Deschamps. Sandra & Danielle are of French-Italian-US heritage, were educated in Paris, Villars-sur-Ollon in Switzerland, London, Manhattan and Miami, and speak 4 languages. They receive help and support from Sandra's husband Gaetano Siano, who manages Accounting & IT, Marie-Henriette Deschamps, their mother who takes care of Administration, Food & Beverage, their father, Henri Deschamps, who attends to building, restoration & organizational development, and last, but by no means least, from Sandra's son Nicolas Siano, all of two and a half, manager of odes to joy and glee. Marie-Henriette's Brother Bernard Russo and his wife Tessa Siegel Russo, own and manage the Taylor House Inn. The Deschamps, Russo & Siano family is also in the process of preparing The Mast Farm Touring Club, in Valle Crucis at 1644 Broadstone Road, for launch in April of 2007. They have a strong commitment towards the Inns, the Community, the Heritage, Legacy, Traditions and Values which have made The Mast Farm Inn, The Taylor House, Valle Crucis and the Western North Carolina High Country, a little bit of heaven.

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