Although open for less than three weeks, Carroll's newest bed and breakfast actually began to take shape more than a decade ago during a trip to Europe.
"We had stayed in B&B;'s in Europe many years ago, and we really enjoyed it," said Steve Kerkam, who, with his wife, Beverly, owns the Wood's Gain Bed and Breakfast in Linwood.
"We really had an eye to do this in the early '80s, but with real estate and the economy so bad off, we put it off for a while," he said.
Their inn, a rambling 19th-century brick house they bought more than a year ago, has welcomed a dozen or so guests in the short time it has been open.
Mr. Kerkam, a systems engineer with Bell Atlantic, said he and his wife spent more than three years scouting Carroll's countryside before finding the house built in 1866 by entrepreneur Josiah Englar.
"When we saw this house, we knew it was the right house, and this was the right time," he said.
The house was built by Mr. Englar, who bought the property as part of a tract of land for which the Wood's Gain is named. He made money by grinding grain in a five-story grain elevator, which is still in operation.
The house now features heirlooms that were inherited by Mr. Kerkam from his grandparents plus antiques that the couple bought at local auctions.
Mrs. Kerkam made bed skirts and curtains for the bedrooms.
Secret passages in the house are possibly a remnant of the underground railroad used by slaves to escape to the North.
The house was recently part of the Soroptomist House Tour.
The Wood's Gain's four rooms -- each with private bathroom - recall guest rooms in rural houses.
The Kerkams prepare country breakfasts in their kitchen. They serve their guests in a dining room, much as you would entertain weekend company at your house.
The whole family gets into the act, Mr. Kerkam said.
He and his wife share breakfast duties, turning out fresh-made muffins, pastries and egg dishes.
And their 11-year-old daughter, Nicki, helps with the chores.
"We want people to feel at home here, like they're visiting friends," Mr. Kerkam said.
That attitude, says a national expert on bed and breakfast inns, is one that almost always guarantees success.
"I don't know these people, but they have the right idea," said Barbara Notarius, who opened a bed and breakfast in New York state 13 years ago and teaches classes on how to make the business work. "These sound like people who have a house, want to invite people in and show them a good time," Ms. Notarius said.
The inn, on McKinstry's Mill Road, is Carroll's sixth bed and breakfast, according to county tourism officials.
And, as the newest, it will take time to be mentioned in guidebooks and make the rounds of word-of-mouth advertisers.
Notarius said that most B&B;'s take a couple of years to establish themselves.
Her inn, the Alexander Hamilton House in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., made $1,500 in its first year.
Last year, she said, the inn took in $140,000.
Rooms at the Wood's Gain rent for $75 a night. The inn will be closed the week after Christmas.