Life & Work with Susan Dyer of Bloomington Springs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Dyer.

Hi Susan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstories.
In 2015 Trent’s job brought us to live in Sydney, Australia, for a year! We did lots of exploring while we were there! Trent and I stayed at a beach house in a town called Old Bar, combined with our first “glamping” trip in The Australian Outback at Kings Canyon Wilderness Lodge. We were so inspired and thought what a fun idea it would be to share our love of hospitality and create something of our own here in Tennessee! We love that our state is famous for its southern hospitality! We purchased 19 acres in 2018 and began creating Sulfur Ridge, home to Tennessee’s First Luxury Treehouse and Shasta Camp! Shasta Camp is your own private space on our property with three retro-inspired Shasta campers, a Life-size Scrabble game, stock tank pools, and the cutest outdoor bath house! It’s a different vibe from the treehouse. Knowing that Tennessee is an outdoor lovers’ paradise and our property is centrally located and surrounded by state parks with waterfalls and beautiful lakes, we knew we had found the perfect location! Trent is highly skilled in construction with a career as a custom cabinet maker, and with my eye for design, we make a good team! If I can think of it- he can build it! We have always had a love for vintage finds and antiques! We wanted our property to be different, a place to see things you don’t usually see when you stay somewhere. We didn’t want to be average. At the treehouse, a few examples are our front door is dated 1848 from an antebellum mansion in Tennessee that was used during the Civil War as a hospital! The stained glass window in the bathroom is from a 100-year-old church in Kentucky. I saw a picture with a bottle wall on Pinterest, so it gave me the idea to create the Wine Bottle Entrance Wall. We had to use a diamond drill bit and drill holes in each bottle, almost 200 bottles! It was time-consuming, but we love how it turned out! The yellow doors with them are eight feet tall and from Egypt! The floor came from an old factory – Wilson Sporting Goods. They manufactured professional ball uniforms for every sport in the US from 1946 to 1989. The cozy chairs I had made from antique quilts, and our guests love them so much! One of their favorite things is the 1976 jukebox! We leave out guests $5 in quarters to play the songs!

We want to be a place for couples to reconnect and spend time together away from the world’s busyness; we love hosting, and our guests are lovely. Something happens to them when they walk through those yellow doors- we do not provide WiFi or television, and they love that! I read once that people may forget your name but never forget how you make them feel.

When we decided to move forward with our project, it made me think of the movie Field of Dreams. I just knew- if we built it- they would come. And we now have over 300 five-star reviews! That’s what we love the most- sharing our special place, hoping it becomes their special place too.

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When we created our Sulfur Ridge property, we had never even stayed in an Airbnb! We love bringing a fun idea to life, and we now try to step back and only sometimes have a new project in the works on the property! For us, the challenging part has been learning to manage our time.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
We own and operate Sulfur Ridge. When we created our short-term rental property, we never knew it would become so successful! We have had over thirty written publications, the last being by “Travel and Leisure” magazine! We are honored to be featured on Tennessee Crossroads and A&E Living Smaller television series. What we are most proud of is that we can use this income to support ministries dear to our hearts. We support an orphanage in Africa, and we are their only monthly support. We love that our guests now play a part in giving! What sets us apart is that when you stay at Sulfur Ridge, you don’t leave the same as when you arrived. It’s an experience! Being immersed in nature resets your mind and body from our fast-paced life.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
There is great value in being kind and sharing our knowledge with others. I have people reach out to us when they want to venture into short-term rentals, and I am always happy to help!

Pricing:

• Treehouse is $379-$399 nightly fee
• Shasta Camp is $269 nightly fee for all three campers and entire private use of campground

Contact Info:

• Website: https://staysulfurridge.com/
• Instagram: https://linktr.ee/SulfurRidge
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sulfurridge