Carolyn and George Mayer sit in the living room of their home, Annabelle Bed and Breakfast, Wednesday evening. The home at 501 Speed St. won second place in a visitor poll by Arrington’s Bed & Breakfast Journal. (MELANIE DUNCAN THORTISThe Vicksburg Post)

At Annabelle Bed and Breakfast, what you see is what you get a comfortable bed and wonderful breakfast.

That’s how one guest described her stay at the inn that was voted into second place in the Best in the South category of a visitor’s poll taken by Arrington’s Bed and Breakfast Journal.

“I slept so good, and my room was so quiet,” said guest Tonia Moody, of Brooklyn, who was in town for business. Moody also raved about the banana pecan pancakes prepared by inn owner Carolyn Mayer.

She has prepared breakfast for their guests every morning since she and her husband, George, opened the bed and breakfast at 501 Speed St. in 1992.

The Mayers also join their guests for the meal.

“It’s amazing what you’ll learn at this table,” George Mayer said of breakfast table conversations. “On their first day, the guests are a little reserved but the next morning at breakfast, we talk like we’ve known each other for years.”

Because the Mayers live in the home, guests are provided with very personal service, Mrs. Mayer said.

The Mayers have lived in Vicksburg for 17 years and said enjoying their business enables them to keep information about Vicksburg fresh and exciting.

“Mississippi is such a beautiful state, and there is so much to see, it is easy to get the guests excited about all of things in Vicksburg,” Mrs. Mayer said.

The results of the poll are published in Arrington’s Bed and Breakfast Journal’s Inn Traveler in its 2003 Book of Lists. A spokesman for the magazine said 17,000 travelers voted in the contest.

“We’re very proud of the rating because it’s very good for Vicksburg,” Mayer said.

Gruen Cliff Bed and Breakfast on the River in New Braunfels, Texas, placed first for the Best in the South category.

Other Mississippi nominations honored in the Book of Lists were Cedar Grove Mansion Inn in Vicksburg, 12th place in Best for Wine Connoisseurs; Inn at the Pass in Pass Christian, fourth place in Best in the South, Dunleith Plantation in Natchez, eighth in Best Meeting Facilities; Amzi Love-Lincoln Home B&B in Columbus, eighth in Best Antiques and Aunt Frannie’s House B & B in Natchez, 11th in Most Privacy.

Vicksburg bed and breakfasts are Duff Green Mansion, Anchuca, Balfour House, Pemberton Headquarters, The Corners, Belle of the Bends, Flowerree, Cherry Street Cottages-Shlenker House, Stained Glass Manor, Grey Oaks and Wilsonwood Lodge.

The Mayers gave the home the name Annabelle in honor of three generations of Mrs. Mayer’s aunts. It was built in 1868 by John Alexander Klein on the estate of his home, Cedar Grove, for his son, Madison Conrad Klein.