Formerly: Cloyd Place Hotel · Hotel Cloyd · Cloyd Brothers Hotel
Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee · Founded 1890 · Building: 1927
A 1927 Red Boiling Springs hotel rebuilt after the 1890 Cloyd resort burned, now combining historic lodging, Southern meals, and paranormal events.
The Thomas House Hotel occupies a red-brick building constructed in 1927 after the original 1890 Cloyd mineral-springs hotel burned in 1924. The earlier hotel served visitors drawn to Red Boiling Springs during the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century resort era. The Cole family purchased the property in 1993, reopened it as The Thomas House Hotel, and built a modern destination around lodging, Southern dining, historical storytelling, and ghost-hunt programming.
Members of the Cloyd family built an 18-room mineral-springs hotel in Red Boiling Springs, variously called Cloyd Place Hotel, Hotel Cloyd, or Cloyd Brothers Hotel.
Source: Historical Marker Database, "The Thomas House Bed and Breakfast"; Thomas House Hotel, "History"; Tennessee hotel-history summaries
A later historical retelling says the Cloyd family sold the hotel to Joseph H. Peters after financial difficulty. The deed date and ownership transfer require primary-record verification.
Source: Nashville Ghosts, "The Thomas House Hotel," January 16, 2025
The original wooden Cloyd hotel was destroyed by fire.
Source: Historical Marker Database, "The Thomas House Bed and Breakfast"; Thomas House Hotel, "History"; Tennessee hotel-history summaries
The present red-brick hotel was built after the 1924 fire, with expanded guest capacity and shared bathrooms.
Source: Thomas House Hotel, "History"; historical summaries of the Thomas House/Cloyd Hotel
A later fire reportedly damaged or destroyed a hotel wing, which was subsequently rebuilt. The exact date and scope need fire, insurance, permit, or newspaper confirmation.
Source: Thomas House Hotel historical summaries; Gatlinburg Haunts, "The Thomas House Hotel," May 13, 2025
The Cole family purchased the property, reopened it, and renamed it The Thomas House Hotel.
Source: Thomas House Hotel, "History"; Gatlinburg Haunts, "The Thomas House Hotel," May 13, 2025; Historical Marker Database, "The Thomas House Bed and Breakfast"
Media coverage associated The Thomas House Hotel with an episode of Portals to Hell. The production's visit and aired episode should be checked against a network or official episode source before treating it as fully documented.
Source: MEAW, "Portals to Hell Season 2: Thomas House Hotel is a hotbed ...," May 8, 2020
The Thomas House Hotel's official lodging, dining, and Ghost Hunt Weekends pages listed active reservations, Southern dining, and paranormal-event programming at 520 E Main St.
Source: Thomas House Hotel official website; Thomas House Hotel, "Dining"; Ghost Hunt Weekends, "Thomas House Hotel," accessed August 2026
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The 1890 date belongs to the original wooden Cloyd hotel. That hotel burned in 1924. The present red-brick Thomas House Hotel was constructed in 1927 and later had a wing rebuilt after a reported 1990s fire.
Historical marker material, the hotel’s own history, and regional retellings agree that Cloyd family members built an 18-room hotel in 1890 to serve Red Boiling Springs mineral-water visitors. The precise founding names, ownership shares, and original business records require verification, but the general resort lineage is well supported.
The hotel has a public paranormal reputation, promotes ghost-hunt weekends, and is described by Ghost Hunt Weekends as CNN's No. 2 most haunted location in the United States. This review did not locate the underlying CNN ranking or a defined national comparison. The ranking and all alleged supernatural activity remain unverifiable.
The hotel’s own history describes reports of doors opening and closing, apparitions, children's laughter, whistling, and spirits identified as Sarah Cloyd and Mr. Cloyd, particularly near Room 37 and the White Hallway. Those descriptions document the stories promoted at the venue, not the identities, deaths, appearances, or paranormal causes asserted by them.
The hotel’s own history says the Cole family purchased the property in 1993, reopened it, and renamed it The Thomas House Hotel. The official dining page identifies Chef David Cole. A current deed, business registration, and lodging-license record were not reviewed.
The original Cloyd hotel was built in 1890 to serve visitors drawn to Red Boiling Springs' mineral waters. The claim accurately reflects the town's historic resort economy, but this review did not locate a Tennessee historical reference establishing the candidate's exact visitor totals, spring classifications, or claimed therapeutic outcomes.
The current Thomas House Hotel building is the original 1890 Cloyd Hotel.
The original wooden Cloyd hotel was built in 1890 and destroyed by fire in 1924. The current red-brick hotel was constructed in 1927.
Source: Historical Marker Database, "The Thomas House Bed and Breakfast"; Thomas House Hotel, "History"
Neal and Robbie Thomas bought and renamed the property in 1990.
The reviewed hotel history says the Cole family purchased the property in 1993, reopened it, and renamed it The Thomas House Hotel. This review found no reliable support for Neal and Robbie Thomas or a 1990 transfer.
Source: Thomas House Hotel, "History"; Gatlinburg Haunts, "The Thomas House Hotel," May 13, 2025
Ghost Adventures filmed at The Thomas House Hotel in 2011 as Season 5, Episode 7.
This review found no reliable Ghost Adventures episode record confirming that 2011 visit, season, or episode. Sources instead mention other paranormal programs, including Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, and a reported 2020 Portals to Hell episode.
Source: Thomas House Hotel, "History"; Only In Your State, "The Thomas House Hotel History Will Give You Nightmares," September 9, 2022; MEAW, "Portals to Hell Season 2: Thomas House Hotel is a hotbed ...," May 8, 2020
The Thomas House Hotel is conclusively one of the most haunted places in America.
The property actively hosts ghost-hunt events and has a public paranormal reputation, but rankings and alleged supernatural events are not independently verifiable. A Ghost Hunt Weekends page repeats a CNN No. 2 claim, but the underlying ranking was not located in this review.
Source: Ghost Hunt Weekends, "Thomas House Hotel," accessed August 2026
Thomas House survived because its owners repeatedly adapted a troubled resort property rather than relying on an unchanged 1890 identity. The original wooden Cloyd hotel was lost to fire, the brick replacement passed through multiple owners and uses, and another fire damaged a wing in the 1990s. The Cole family’s 1993 revival connected historic lodging and home-style meals with a paranormal-events model, making the building a destination after the mineral-springs boom had faded.
The Thomas House Hotel traces its history to an 1890 Cloyd family mineral-springs hotel in Red Boiling Springs. The original wooden Cloyd hotel burned in 1924, and the present red-brick hotel was built in 1927. The Cole family bought the property in 1993, reopened it, and renamed it The Thomas House Hotel.
No evidence reviewed here establishes The Thomas House Hotel as Tennessee's oldest hotel. Its business lineage reaches to an 1890 mineral-springs hotel, but the original building burned in 1924 and the present hotel dates to 1927. Any statewide oldest-hotel claim would require comparison of business continuity, reconstructed buildings, ownership changes, closures, and current public operation across Tennessee.
Red Boiling Springs became a resort destination in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries because visitors believed its mineral waters could improve health. Hotels such as the original Cloyd Hotel were built to serve those guests. The historic mineral-water tourism is real, but the claimed medical benefits should be understood as period beliefs rather than established medical treatment.
This review did not find a reliable earliest dated newspaper, book, police record, or archival source documenting when Thomas House haunting stories first appeared. The hotel’s own history says generations of guests and staff have reported unexplained events, while national paranormal-media attention became more visible in the 2010s and a Portals to Hell episode was reported in 2020. Those sources document a modern public reputation, not the first alleged haunting or proof of one.
No. The original wooden Cloyd hotel opened in 1890 and burned in 1924. The red-brick hotel now called The Thomas House Hotel was built in 1927. The Cole family purchased and renamed the rebuilt property in 1993.
520 E Main St, Red Boiling Springs, TN 37150
(615) 699-3006
The Thomas House Hotel advertises lodging, family-style Southern dining, and scheduled ghost-hunt events. Confirm current room availability, meal reservations, event eligibility, public access, accessibility, bar service, and seasonal hours directly before visiting.