The Book and Table Inn is downtown Valdosta’s first Airbnb and inn which operated originally under Mike and Lai Orenduff who bought the building in 2015. The Orenduffs purchased it as a dilapidated structure and did extensive renovations adding a second story which was their living quarters, three balconies, one courtyard, three Airbnb rooms and a commercial space. This is all housed in the original framework of the building that was constructed sometime around 1885.

It has housed many companies throughout the years such as Valdosta Times (1878), Boone & Co tin shop and hardware (1883), Converse & Briggs dry goods and clothing (1895), J.E. Roberts Hardware Co (1905), Valdosta Banking Co (1925), Thompson & Girardin Jewelers (1937), and various clothing and shoe stores (1949-1974). Mike and Lai Orenduff became the owners in 2015 and restored the dilapidated building, creating the Book and Table Inn which was a bookstore with a café and three Airbnb rooms with their apartment on the second story.

Today, the Book and Table Inn is owned and operated by Jamie and Sarah Phelps in the beautiful, gentrified downtown Valdosta on the corner of Patterson Street and historic Bennie’s Alley, the most photographed spot in South Georgia. Jamie and Sarah purchased the building from the Orenduffs in October of 2019. The commercial space of the building has since housed GŪD craft coffee and now contains the Southern Cellar. The Inn has now expanded into another building called the Cranford Hotel. All their rooms have a special meaning behind their names. The Orenduffs started this tradition of naming their rooms with a month name in honor of their grandchildren’s birth month. The theme has been continued such as July room in honor of Jamie and Sarah’s son, Able who passed away July of 2017 at 30 weeks gestation. Once they used up the 12 month names, they began naming rooms after family members such as the Noah Trust room after their 3rd born son. 

The Inn was their first step into downtown entrepreneurship. Jamie and Sarah had no intention of running an inn but as they say, “It was a God-thing of how it all happened.” Their big dream is to see a 24/7 prayer room in downtown Valdosta for all to be able to come worship and get before the Lord anytime of the day or night. They know God has opened the door of this business venture to help that dream of a prayer house become a reality.