Sleep in a Four-Poster Bed

This is, in our estimation, one in a list of thirty marvelous places, flavors, events, and experiences that anyone who lives in—or loves—our part of the world should experience at least once in his or her lifetime.

Of course your Sealy Memory Foam king-size mattress/box-spring is comfy. But if you live in a part of the world where the plantation aristocracy retired each night to a four-poster, full-tester bed carved out of solid oak, surely at least once, you should have the pleasure, too. Canopy beds weren’t just ornamental. The structure provided privacy and supported the mosquito netting that was more than an aesthetic consideration in the early, malaria-prone South.

Historic inns offering suites with four-poster canopy beds include Nottway Plantation in White Castle, Butler Greenwood in St. Francisville, and Dunleith Historic Inn in Natchez.