We are Tom and Kelly Esselburn and we are happy to host you at our beautiful property. Tom accidentally stumbled across this lovely home and we bought it as a place we could retire to but not too far away from "home." We wanted someplace where we could gather with our growing family of five kids and began families of their own, and it's a good thing , because even our large farmhouse can't always accommodate everyone for those special family gatherings. We just knew we needed to share it with others too because we loved it here and were hoping others would as well.
In 2015 we launched Whitetail Ridge Lodge followed by The Barn at Whitetail in 2017. We are situated between Mohican State Park with all the water activities- canoeing, tubing, hiking, biking and horse back riding in the Loudonville area AND the shopping, crafts, local wineries, food and farmers markets of Amish country in the Millersburg and Berlin areas!
We feel we have the best Holmes County has to offer because at the end of your busy day you can return to gather in this comfortable luxury to just relax on the back patio in front of the outdoor fireplace and enjoy your time with family, friends or just a quiet couples retreat.
We have met so many wonderful people over the years and love to meet with our guests if arrival time permits. The most common theme of the comments we receive is how clean our place is. We always love this because we always appreciate a clean relaxing place when we travel. We try to offer what is best for our visitors, insuring a safe and healthy place for families or friends who just want to gather and enjoy each other! Many people have returned to visit and enjoy this beautiful place and area!

The best thing about visiting here is the quiet! If you're enjoying the outdoors the nearest road is far from being a road much traveled and the trees muffle most sounds! You can actually hear the birds, squirrels, deer moving about or acorns fall from the trees in autumn.
Indoors the quality of this beautiful timber frame home provides an added layer of tranquility! The only "noise" you need to hear is the laughter of family and friends while you enjoy each others company in a game of cards or charades!
The view here is beautiful as you are surrounded by trees that offer privacy, plus provide an abundant view of the woodland creatures from the back patio. The area outside the house is an open lawn giving you room to stretch your legs, check out the well groomed landscape or take in the views of the setting sun as it sinks behind the forest from the back patio with fireplace and park style grill while you enjoy a crisp glass of local wine. Or on a quiet evening enjoy the balcony off the main suite and listen to the frogs sing their night time songs.
We encourage you to walk up to the edge of the woods but caution guests from entering them. We do have bobcats, coyotes and even rummers of black bears sighted near this area, and who knows about Bigfoot! The terrain in the woods is steep and there are a couple deep valleys. We also experienced a derecho in 2022 which caused significant damage to some of our trees deep in the woods, making them possible dangers during high wind times. For your safety we encourage you to hike on state park or designated hiking trails.
Let us welcome you and your family or friends in this wonderful place to make special memories that last a lifetime!