Our story

You don't need a dead zone to unplug. You need a place with enough going on that you forget your phone is in your bag.

For years I ran a creative agency and worked in technology. I spent all day, every day in front of a screen. My favorite days at work were the ones I got away from the computer and out into the field, doing something with my hands or a camera.

My wife Caley and I were tired of the city: the traffic, the noise, the constant busyness. In 2024 we bought the Moore House Inn & Cabins in Marlinton, in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. My days went from sitting at a desk to splitting firewood for the outdoor wood boiler, renovating rooms and talking with guests from all over the world who come to the mountains to get away.

What we noticed

The guests who enjoyed their stay most had a few things in common.

• They didn't care about the TV.
• They stayed more than one night.
• They spent their evenings around the fire pit and the hot tub.
• They put their phones away, played board games in the parlor and got to know the other guests.

On the first night most people are still on their phones. By the second day they're by the fire talking about real things. That's why we ask for two nights.

What Analog Escapes is for

We look for more places like that: cabins, small inns, lodges, farms and tents out in the mountains or somewhere remote, with a fireplace or a fire pit, a hot tub or a sauna, a creek to sit by, trails nearby and board games on the shelf. Places where you can write, read, listen to the birds or just your own thoughts, or sit around a fire for hours with people you just met.

Every stay has to meet our standards for remoteness, nature and guest ratings, and we turn down far more than we list. Start with our guides, or see where you could go this weekend.

Rob Gonyea, founder of Analog Escapes and innkeeper at the Moore House