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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

Kennedy: People are going crazy for this ‘groovy’ motel in Trenton

Staff Photo by Mark Kennedy / Ryan and Melissa Faircloth are the owners of the Groovy Nomad Motel in Trenton. The two bought the abandoned property on Highway 11 and turned it into a boutique motel with mid-century design themes. The Faircloths are shown Nov. 6.
Staff Photo by Mark Kennedy / Ryan and Melissa Faircloth are the owners of the Groovy Nomad Motel in Trenton. The two bought the abandoned property on Highway 11 and turned it into a boutique motel with mid-century design themes. The Faircloths are shown Nov. 6. Staff Photo by Mark Kennedy / Ryan and Melissa Faircloth are the owners of the Groovy Nomad Motel in Trenton. The two bought the abandoned property on Highway 11 and turned it into a boutique motel with mid-century design themes. The Faircloths are shown Nov. 6.

Who knew that renovating old roadside motels was a thing?

Ryan and Melissa Faircloth, two North Georgia grandparents, certainly didn’t when they bought an empty 11-room motel in Trenton, nestled in the shadow of Lookout Mountain on Highway 11.

“I drove by it every day. I kept telling myself, ‘I’m going to buy that one day,'” said Ryan Faircloth, 47, a full-time real estate investor and former dumpster company owner.

His wife, Melissa, 44, a real estate broker, didn’t initially share her husband’s enthusiasm for the low-slug strip of rooms that had been vacant for more than a decade.

“I can’t say I was honestly, 100% sure about buying it,” she said.