at the Historic Headquarters of Frontier Nursing Service in Wendover, Kentucky.
132 FNS Drive • Wendover, KY 41775
(606) 672-2317 • wendover@frontier.edu
Are you are looking for a place to relax and unwind? Wendover is the place for you. This two-story rustic log home nestled near Kentucky’s Appalachian region is the perfect get away. We also invite you to connect with the rich history of Frontier Nursing University while you’re here.
Wendover is steeped with tradition from its displays of heroine nurses to its cozy fireplace. Guests travel from all over the United States to be a part of this historical and inspiring experience.
HISTORY
The beautiful log home, known as the Big House, was built in 1925 by Pioneer nurse-midwife, Mary Breckinridge, founder of the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS). When it was completed in 1925, Mrs. Breckinridge held an open house and invited everyone in Leslie County to come and be a part of the celebration. To Mrs. Breckinridge’s surprise, nearly 500 people showed up, the majority of them on horseback. The Big House became a National Historic Landmark in 1991.
GUEST ROOMS
The Wendover Bed & Breakfast and Retreat Center has a total of 17 guest rooms in The Big House, The Garden House, The Barn & The Cottage.
The Big House
Four Rooms
- The Queen’s Room was the bedroom of Mr. Clifton Rodes Breckinridge from 1925-1932 ( Mrs. Breckinridge’s father) It was a room fit for a queen. With a dresser from the late 1800’s, and a large cedar-lined closet, you will feel like royalty! This room also has a great view of the Middlefork of the Kentucky River. The new King bed makes this room ideal for couples. The attached sitting porch is a great place to unwind and read a good book!
- The Twin Room features two twin beds
- The Staff Room features one twin bed. It was once the place Mrs. Breckinridge took care of her staff when they were ill. Sometimes staff stayed here on vacation. Guests will enjoy a picturesque view of the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River from this room.
- The Mary Breckinridge Room is Mrs. Breckinridge’s bedroom with a queen bed, antique desk and a travel trunk actually used by her.
There are two shared restrooms for the guest rooms in the Big House.
The Wendover Barn
One Apartment & Four Rooms
The Wendover Barn at one time was where FNS horses were kept. Today it also serves as the home of our Gift Shop and historic photo & artifact gallery. Our guests love browsing the Wendover gift shop looking at Frontier Nursing memorabilia and crafts made by local artisans.
- Wendover Barn Apartment is perfect for families with a queen-size bed in the Master Bedroom, a private bath and a pull-out bed in the living room sofa.
- Barn Double Rooms: The second floor of the Wendover Barn contains four rooms with two twin beds each. There are two shared restrooms for the guest rooms in the Wendover Barn.
The Garden House
One Suite & Six Rooms
- The Garden House once served as the administrative headquarters of the Frontier Nursing Service. Staff offices are still located on 1st floor.
- Garden House Suite: This suite comes with a queen-size bed, private bath and private sitting room.
- Garden House Guest Rooms: There are six guest rooms on the second floor of the Garden House, 1 room with a full bed and 5 rooms with a single twin bed. These rooms continue to serve as the official lodging for Frontier Nursing University’s Courier Program Internship. There is one shared bathroom for the guest rooms in the Garden House.
The Cottage
Three Guest Rooms
The Cottage was built by the Frontier Nursing Service in 1970. The first resident was Nancy Dammann. She was a Courier (1941), decorated WWII veteran, author of four books including Social History of Frontier Nursing Service (1982) and a local bookstore owner in Hyden. She moved to Arizona when she retired. Over the years, many FNS staff members have lived in this picturesque mountain home.
Now it’s the perfect place for a family get away and features a King bed with private bath in the master bedroom, two bedrooms with two twin beds in each and a shared bathroom. In addition, it has a pull out sofa bed in the full size living/dining room, fireplace, full size kitchen and laundry room. The porch is a great place to relax in a rocking chair and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
CONFERENCE CENTER
Wendover is the perfect place to plan your next company meeting or retreat!
The Livery is a restored workshop that now serves as a conference center. This site is ideal for meetings, retreats and reunions. With its rural setting and majestic view of the Appalachian Mountains from the front porch, gatherings will never be the same again!
The Livery meeting space can accommodate 35 participants and is equipped with video conferencing equipment, teleconference abilities and Wifi access. The rental rate for the full conference room is $150 per day. A small kitchen allows groups to accommodate refreshment breaks or enjoy full meals. Alternately, meeting participants may make meal reservations at the Big House Dining Room.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
- Wifi Access: All rooms in the Wendover Bed & Breakfast Inn have free wireless internet access.
- Complimentary Breakfast: Your stay at the Wendover Bed & Breakfast includes a hearty country breakfast served in the “Dogtrot” Dining Room of the Big House at 9:00 a.m.
- Optional Lunch or Dinner: Our delicious home-cooked lunch is only $18.50 per person and dinner is available for $23.99 per person. This price includes a beverage and dessert. Call 606-672-2317 for special group pricing. Please let us know if you would like this option upon making your reservation.
- Fireplace: The Big House contains a historic fireplace in the living room that guests are invited to enjoy by request.
RESERVATIONS
A credit card is needed to secure your reservation. Your card will not be charged at the time you submit your reservation. Contact Wendover Bed & Breakfast and Retreat Center at (606) 672-2317 to make your reservation or check availability below.
RATES
Big House Rooms
$159 Queen’s room with King bed & sitting/reading porch
$110 Twin Room with 2 twin beds
$159 Mary Breckinridge Room with queen bed
$99 Staff Room with 1 twin
Wendover Barn Apartment
$179 Queen bed with private bathroom, tv & deck
$35 sofa bed (for each additional guest)
Wendover Barn Upstairs
$79 (2 rooms with 2 twin beds)
$89 (2 rooms with queen beds)
Garden House Guest Rooms
$69 (5 rooms each with one twin bed, shared bathroom & living room with tv)
$79 One full bed
Garden House Suite
$159 Queen bed with private bathroom & private sitting/reading room
The Cottage
$199 King bed, 4 twin beds, 1 full sofa bed, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen & laundry room
The Livery Conference Center
$150 per day
REVIEWS
“Peaceful and cozy, the breakfast was amazing!” Emily V. Holladay, UT
“Magical Place to stay” Karolina P. Fairbanks, AK
“Country Breakfast fit not just for a King but for the whole kingdom” Southern Living Magazine
TOURS
With advance notice, we can arrange exciting individual and group guided tours of the historic headquarters of the Frontier Nursing Service at Wendover and Frontier Nursing University (FNU) for no additional cost.
Your tour includes:
- Stories from the rich heritage of the Frontier Nursing Service
- A visit to the Wendover Photo Gallery/gift shop located in the Barn
- A viewing of the Forgotten Frontier, a film made by Mary Breckinridge’s cousin, Marvin Breckinridge in 1930
- A visit to Mary Breckinridge’s home, the Big House
- A delicious home-cooked lunch in the Dog Trot Dining room of the Big House and a relaxing stroll down Joey’s Trail – the price for lunch is $18.50 per person, and we can accommodate groups of all sizes.
- A short drive up Hospital Hill for a tour of the former Hyden Hospital location, which is now the home of Frontier Nursing University (FNU)
- A view of FNU’s historic campus which includes: the St. Christopher’s Chapel featuring a restored 15th century French stained glass window, and the Haggin Dorm with a brick from Florence Nightingale’s home located on the second floor
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).