About
Hey Y’all…
Andiamo Lodge is Alabama’s first experience lodge located in Mentone, Alabama. This creative retreat specializes in curated experiences from cheese making, to writing, exploring, and more. Let us curate your experience.
Whether you are visiting for a workshop, planning a private retreat, or want to join us overnight, we create custom activities for everyone and every need.
Love Story
The creation of Andiamo Lodge is a love story that started with a bike ride and ended with an unwitting undertaking.
The creation of Andiamo Lodge is a love story that started with a bike ride and ended with an unwitting undertaking.
Colleen Duffley and her husband Steve Carpenter were living their best lives at their Mentone, Alabama cottage along Little River, which, incidentally, begins and ends on top of Lookout Mountain. Duffley, a creative director, editorial, and commercial photographer whose images have graced the covers and pages of every lifestyle and shelter magazine you can think of thrilled at posting photos of the couple’s summer outpost in Mentone and its environs. The problem? She made their newlywed bungalow, outdoor activities, and the beautiful mountain scenery look so enticing that family and friends wanted to visit.
Duffley and Carpenter met while plying their careers from their perch along the eponymous 30A in Northwest Florida. Carpenter is in his 13th year of owning and operating Crabby Steve’s Bar & Gulfside Restaurant in High Pointe next to Rosemary Beach . A first-class restaurateur, Crabby Steve’s has developed a reputation not only for its great food and casual beachside atmosphere, but for being a sort-of insiders or locals’ spot. While not on location shooting for Neiman Marcus, Traditional Home, Lake Austin Spa and resort, or Another Broken Egg, to name just a few, Duffley established Studio b. in Alys Beach. An experiential space and art gallery, Studio b. offered all sorts of creative programming and hosted sophisticated art exhibits.
Biking one day in Mentone, the photographer and restaurateur rode by a vacant grouping of buildings, a spot formerly known as the Shiloh Lodge. “Hunh,” Duffley thought to herself. A stroll around the property revealed a “for sale” sign peeking from a pile of leaves. A double “hunh!” It was kismet!
Born of love for family and friends, the talented duo bought the lodge and transformed its tired look into the rustic luxe inn that guests experience today. With Duffley’s keen eye and Carpenter’s culinary and managerial talent, they created lodging, a menu, creative experiences and an atmosphere that’s a feast for the senses and so much more than a place to rest your head.