The Lemp Mansion Restaurant and Inn

A brewing dynasty's house, open for the night

★★★★★📍 Benton Park, St. Louis, Missouri$$

The history is genuinely tragic and the reason the house matters: the Lemps rose with German St. Louis brewing, built a commercial empire and a network of caves and tunnels for lagering beer beneath the neighborhood, and then lost it all as illness, family breakdown and Prohibition took their toll. The mansion's restoration preserved the grand rooms, and the antiques that furnish them stay with the building in the sale. The house was built in the early 1860s, and the chain of tragedy began with the unexpected death in 1901 of Frederick Lemp, William Sr.'s favored son and heir; his father's decline ended in suicide three years later. The brewery, best known for Falstaff beer, closed under Prohibition, and the plant was sold off in 1922, the year William Jr. took his own life. Staff and guests describe footsteps on the main staircase, a woman's presence associated with Elsa's room and doors that open on their own, and the mansion's ghost tours tell the stories room by room.

Room craft: the inn has only a handful of rooms, so book well ahead, especially in October; choose the suite whose family story interests you most and read up before you go. Dinner in the mansion is part of the experience, and guests should expect an old house with creaks, stairs and character rather than hotel polish.

Practicals: 3322 DeMenil Place, Benton Park, St. Louis; a short drive from downtown and the Arch; the Anheuser-Busch brewery is nearby for the brewing-history pairing. Fit: a haunted Missouri weekend with the Missouri State Penitentiary two hours west, and a stay to book while the current owners are still at the helm.