About The Woodford Inn…
Built in 1865 at the end of the Civil War as a Women’s College, the original building was purchased using funds from the sale of land bequeathed by a Woodford County farmer, John Cleveland. His will stated the land he left was to be used "for the education, feeding, and clothing of poor orphan female children of this state, such as are not worth $100.00”. The Cleveland Orphan Home, an all-female orphanage for children from across the state aged 3-13 was eventually incorporated. The original house was built of brick in classic revival style architecture. It was razed and demolished in 1926 due to the building being in disrepair and the cost of renovations being equal to building a new facility.
Special thanks to the National Registry of Historic Sites and David L. Morgan, SHPO.
The owners...
The owner/operators of The Woodford Inn are Laura Schondel and Richard L. Ray.
Laura was with Applebee’s for fifteen years and mastered all positions in guest service and has been a corporate trainer, opening several new locations. Laura was the Event Coordinator, Service Trainer and Front of House Manager at Simon Kenton Inn. Laura is presently a Supervisor of Learning and Development for Visible Supply Chain Management, an eCommerce Company.
Richard was most recently a General Manager with Applebee’s. Richard has more than 30 years’ experience in Restaurants and Hospitality with Perkins Family Restaurants, Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, Applebee’s, Golden Corral, and Simon Kenton Inn in the Springfield & Dayton, Ohio. He has operated restaurants at the highest level, consistently earning recognition for profit, quality, and cleanliness. He has operated restaurants from low to high volume and most recently operating the highest volume Applebee’s in the Dayton Market, which was also a training store for new managers.
We are very excited to be part of the Community and Woodford County! We welcome you here and you have our pledge to make your stay here as enjoyable as possible!