In season four of Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and Sookie leave the Independence to open the Dragonfly Inn, a space that is more closely aesthetically aligned with the Mayflower Inn of today. Kamerman, who designed the Dragonfly behind the scenes, aimed to give it a layered feel with eclectic decor that she could see Lorelai and Sookie actually picking out. “I could envision [them] looking at all the fabric swatches [and] wallpaper samples and [not going for anything too conservative],” explains Kamerman. Instead, she made decisions such as combining multiple fabrics and patterns onto one chair, for example. Looking through photos of today’s Mayflower Inn, Kamerman points out similarities such as mixed media gallery walls and thrifted decor.
One of the biggest appeals of both inns in Gilmore Girls is their small-town magic and New England charm. The Mayflower, like the Independence and Dragonfly, has a welcoming lobby and communal spaces that encourage gathering. “There’s a very welcoming, accommodating, inclusive feel when you’re in there,” says Kemble, adding that during fall the inn has bonfires on the porch. After working on set for so many years, visiting the Mayflower and the surrounding area during Gilmore Girls Fan Fest, which takes place annually each fall, was entrancing for Campbell. “It is very easy to imagine the characters from the show walking around these towns, even though we never even got to go and film there,” she says.