1859 limestone stagecoach inn — one of Texas's oldest surviving resort hotels, now boutique, with a self-filling Victorian bathtub that has resisted every explanation.
128 W Blanco Rd, Boerne, TX 78006
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Boutique hotel; room rates vary by season. Lobby accessible to walk-in visitors.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat historic campus with multiple buildings and cottages on 5.2 acres
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1859 · National Register of Historic Places (1976) · Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (1983) · One of the oldest surviving resort hotels in Texas · Stagecoach era commercial landmark
Erastus and Sarah Reed arrived in Boerne from Georgia, where they had previously operated hotels, and constructed the limestone block structure in 1859 as the town's only stagecoach inn. Known initially as the Reed House, it offered four guest rooms and served travelers on the route through the Texas Hill Country.
In 1869, Col. Henry C. King purchased the property and renamed it King Place. A decade later, in 1878, J.C. Rountree and W.L. Wadsworth acquired it, added two wings, and rechristened it the Boerne Hotel. James T. Clarke bought it in 1884, and in 1909 Dr. J.H. Barnitz of San Antonio acquired the inn, renamed it Ye Kendall Inn, and modernized it with electrical wiring and communal bathrooms.
The building became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1983 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1976. It is described by architectural historians as one of the few remaining 19th-century resort hotels in Texas, built in a vernacular Greek Revival limestone style. Notable documented guests over its history include Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.
A major renovation in 2018–2019 expanded the property to 34 rooms, suites, and cottages across a 5.2-acre campus while preserving the original 1859 main structure. The property now operates as The Kendall.
Sources
The most-cited phenomenon at the Kendall is the claw-foot bathtub in the Victoria Room. Guests have described waking to find the tub full of water with no sound of running water and no recollection of turning it on. The report is consistent across multiple guest accounts documented by TexasHauntedHouses.com and Boerne city archives.
Local ghost lore also describes a man in a top hat observed crossing the courtyard and occasionally spotted seated at a table in the restaurant. Haunted tourism sources attribute this figure to Col. Henry C. King — the inn's second owner, who purchased it in 1869 and is said in local oral tradition to have died in a hunting accident behind the property. Historical documentation of the accident itself has not surfaced in the county record, so the specific claim should be read as handed-down folklore rather than verified incident.
Additional reports include the sound of horses and a carriage moving through the lobby (a plausible echo of the inn's stagecoach-stop past), a sign flying off a wall in the lobby and landing across the room, knocking on walls at night, and children's laughter in the corridors. Paranormal investigators have documented the lobby, Marcella Room, and Victoria Room as the most active areas. The Boerne city website noted the inn's haunted reputation in a 2015 Boerne Spooks! feature.
Notable Entities
Book a room on the historic 5.2-acre campus. The Victoria Room — home to the claw-foot bathtub that reportedly fills itself while guests sleep — and the Marcella Room are the most frequently cited for unexplained activity. The inn offers 34 rooms, suites, and cottages spread across the restored 1859 complex.
The hotel's lobby, courtyard, and grounds are open to day visitors. The 1859 limestone block main structure is one of the few surviving 19th-century resort hotels in Texas and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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