The Flying Fifty Hotel: An upscale development celebrating the best of Cullman’s historic past
Published 10:15 pm Monday, June 3, 2024
Challie and Paul Knetter.
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Challie and Paul Knetter. Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
The green-and-white marble that clads its two-story atrium might be Italian, but nearly everything else about The Flying Fifty Hotel — from its most eye-catching features to even those behind-the-scenes secrets that most guests never will see — is distinctively Cullman through and through.
Newly opened as part of an ambitious all-local development meant to celebrate the area’s perennial zest for self-starting commerce, the seven-suite boutique hotel takes its naming inspiration from one of the area’s most significant economic milestones: the coming together, decades ago, of the “Flying Fifty” — a community-minded cadre of some four-score local business leaders who coalesced around the idea that a new infusion of industrial investment could improve the financial fortunes of their predominantly agricultural hometown.
Set on the western fringes of Cullman’s historic downtown block grid, The Flying Fifty occupies the balcony-surrounded second-floor spot that crowns a larger multi-use retail space; one that exclusively houses home-grown businesses in an era when similar projects often target national brands. From its welcoming blade sign hanging high outside to the indoor split-paned photo collage that honors the original members of the Flying Fifty themselves, it’s a well-curated celebration of the best of Cullman’s historic past — as well as its optimistic future.
Soon to open on the building’s lower floor is coffee-and-wine restaurant Jubilee (a new concept from Karma’s Coffee House founder Katie Fine), alongside a new location of Cullman’s Seven Daughters Scoops ice cream shop (which will keep open its current first location along U.S. Highway 31 North). Winston County vintner Sipsey Vineyard and Winery will occupy the third tenant space, while the fourth will house the newest location of Cullman Savings Bank — the entire development’s raison d’etre in the first place.
“When I bought the lot, I knew that the bank needed a drive-through location. I didn’t really know what I was eventually going to do with it; I just knew that it was a great spot,” explains bank president and CEO John Riley, who envisioned the lot’s hotel potential after enjoying a stay at the similarly upscaled GunRunner Hotel in Florence.
“As things progressed, we got to a point where I thought it would really be such a waste to only make it a bank drive-through and not use the opportunity to generate something new for Cullman. I started wondering, ‘Man – I wonder if I can figure out how to cobble a deal to make something bigger happen … and then to find some people who can run it.’”
As it turned out, Riley found far more deal-making good will than he first might’ve bargained for — as well as a surprising abundance of local talent and enthusiasm to elevate his original boutique-hotel vision beyond even his own imagination. Early in the process — before anyone had settled on a theme for the hotel or even a name — he met future husband-and-wife duo Challie and Paul Knetter. Each, at the time, a student at Wallace State Community College, neither had prior roots in Cullman. But both showed a fervor that suggested to Riley that the kernel of his concept might actually hold the promise of striking a resonant and receptive local chord.
“To be honest, I figured that something was going to knock me out of being able to do all of this, because I was threading a needle on a lot of things,” says Riley. “But we got it to a point where it was starting to go well … and then these two [Challie and Paul] showed up in my world. That’s when a lot of what’s great about this place really started to take off, and to take on a life of its own.”
“In The Founders Suite, there’s a cigar shadowbox from the original King Edward Cigar factory in Cullman,” adds Paul by way of example. “That came from a woman who actually worked there, from the day that it opened until the day that it closed. It’s that kind of enthusiasm and support from the community that has really made this whole project into something special.”
The Knetters now own and operate the hotel, which is fitting, since they’re whom Riley credits with correctly identifying the “Flying Fifty” concept as a branding idea with real wings.
“Once people found out about what we were doing, it was really amazing how so many people came out of the woodwork with memories, articles, ideas and memorabilia that ended up being incorporated into the finished hotel,” says Challie. “People would drop off pictures for the hotel to display; they would share stories about the actual Flying Fifty members — because they actually knew and remembered them! — and just offer up these really cool pieces of local history all the way through the process. In a way, it’s like they all were going on this journey along with us.”
Local authenticity abounds throughout the hotel space, whether through the bespoke art and furniture created by Cullman makers or the remarkably preserved local artifacts that adorn each of its seven Cullman-themed suites — spaces with significance-imbued names like “The Lakes,” “The Frankweiler,” “The Wallace,” and “The Steeples.”
Throughout the hotel’s planning stage, Paul and Challie would occasionally hit up social media to solicit a bit of crowdsourced local history. So great was the community’s response to that callout that the finished hotel now includes a common area devoted to storing the resulting trove of decades-old magazines, school annuals, and other printed treasures for guests’ casual perusal.
Not surprisingly, the Knetters refer to their languid upstairs hangout spot as “the library,” and it’s an appellation that’s more than skin deep: If some wide-eyed local historian were to seek out a single location to mine some of the area’s best-preserved primary sources, they could do far worse than the bookshelves of The Flying Fifty Hotel.
You don’t, of course, have to be a student of local history to get caught up in The Flying Fifty’s long list of impressive amenities. Outdoor sightlines all along the balcony point guests toward sweeping views of the city’s church spires, or down toward the red-brick alleyway that divides the hotel from Rumors Deli — its immediate westerly neighbor. The TVs are huge, the beds bespoke, and the zero-entry showers spacious and steamy. There’s a sizable conference room for business travelers, too, complete with a tech setup aimed at helping working guests stay fully plugged in on the go. And though the hotel operates on a self check-in model familiar to anyone who’s online-shopped a room on Vrbo or Airbnb, there’s on-site hospitality and room-refresh available each and every day.
Originally a native of upstate New York, Riley came to Cullman more than 30 years ago as a hungry recent college grad. He’s since fallen in love with the town that long since has adopted him as one of its own, and, like Challie and Paul, he treasures those occasional “aha!” moments when he witnesses Cullman casting its small-town spell on an unsuspecting first-timer.
Thanks to The Flying Fifty, those moments are sure to compound as the hotel begins weaving charms of its own among guests.
“One of my favorite things is the effect the hotel already has had on the people who’ve already stayed here,” he says. “They come and they stay, but then they leave and go and tell people where they were — and suddenly there’s excitement. People want to know more; to find out what it’s like — it’s like you become a minor celebrity, for a moment, because you stayed here.
“It’s tough to put into words, but to me, that’s almost like the spirit of the original Flying Fifty — still active and alive in our community. It’s people finding out about Cullman, and then leaving here thinking, ‘Man, that was a great weekend.’ And that isn’t because of the building. It’s because of where that building is; about what it represents … about what it evokes and creates.”
Learn more about The Flying Fifty Hotel online at theflyingfifty.com, and stay up to date on all the latest hotel happenings via Facebook (search “The Flying Fifty”) and Instagram @theflyingfifty.
Local lineage
The Flying Fifty isn’t just a place that celebrates Cullman in name only. Through and through, it’s a locally sourced creation that’s tapped the ingenuity of home-grown people to supply nearly every facet of its design, construction and in-room appointments, all the way from John Riley’s original big vision to the smallest finishing stitch on each fresh hotel linen.
Below are just some of the people and businesses who’ve been involved in shaping The Flying Fifty Hotel — not just into a bespoke place to stay, but into a Cullman original that drinks deep from the generous well of skilled and talented professionals who hail from in and around Cullman County.
Concept: John Riley — Cullman Savings Bank, president and CEO
Finance & project guidance: T’aira Ugarkovich — Cullman Savings Bank executive vice president and COO
Architecture: Emily Bullard-McClellan, AIA — KPS Group (Huntsville)
Interior Design: Amy Wood (Cullman)
Construction: Eidson & Associates, Inc. (Cullman)
Hotel Ownership & Management: Challie and Paul Knetter
Large murals & hand-painted original art: Donald Walker (Arab), illustrator & artist
Hand-painted original art: Laura Walker — Art With a Soul (Cullman)
Hand-painted original art: Pam Willingham — Shop Around the Corner (Cullman)
Woodcraft & handmade furniture: Paul Moss — Southern Heritage Restoration (Cullman)
Outdoor signage and themed accent portraiture: Bradley Brock — Creative Signs of Cullman
In-suite linens: HomTex, Inc. (Cullman)
In-suite towels: Red Land Cotton (Moulton)
Bottled water: Blue Spring Living Water (Blount County)
Hotel stationery: Modernistic Printers, Inc. (Cullman)
Finance & ongoing project support: The Board of directors and leadership team of Cullman Savings Bank
Historical inspiration: The original members of Cullman’s “Flying Fifty,” including local developer Roy Drinkard — who at age 103 helped christen the new hotel in person at a recent welcoming reception.
