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May 2005

Our Members Speak Out

Battle Island Inn, Fulton NY

We asked: What are some of the funny//exciting/crazy things that have happened to you while renovating or building your inn?

Question for our June issue: How is your summer season shaping up? If it’s looking good, to what do you attribute the strong reservations? If business is down, what is your strategy to change the trend? Although occupancy rates in the lodging business overall are improving, we are getting reports that B&B reservations in some regions are disappointing. Comments please!

Email your responses to Sandy.Soule@BedandBreakfast.com. If we publish your comments, we'll thank you with a $25 credit in our Featured Properties Auction program!

“In 2004, I purchased the Arts & Crafts-style house adjacent to Cliff Cottage Inn. It had long been used as the Humane Society thrift shop; prior to that, an artist lived in the house, and the two-story barn behind the house was used as a studio by local artists. During the renovation process, we tore down some sheds at the back of the property and discovered a cave. The first heavy rain produced a gush of water from the side of the cave, completely flooding the yard. We had uncovered a spring. When the yard dried up, we cleaned up the mess and discovered a small channel hewn out of the rock bluff, blocked by debris. We cleaned that out and the next time it rained, the water came out of the side of the cave and ran down the channel. Unfortunately, the channel led right to the two-story barn we were going to restore as a guest suite. The area was solid limestone, so the only thing to do was to allow the channel to run underneath the building and into the new sewer line we had just put in. I asked the carpenter if we could have a glass floor in the bathroom and maybe have some fish swimming for guests to watch, but he didn't like that idea! Next, we cleaned out the cave, which goes deep into the rock bluff. After removing about 18 inches of dirt, we discovered pipes leading from the cave to the house with some other weird contraptions. My plumber explained that it was a still for making moonshine, which was quite amusing, since the land had once belonged to the town’s first mayor! [Guess all that spring water came in handy!] We had found another cave when restoring the main inn building twelve years ago. Because the cave stays at 52 degrees year-round, we turned it into a wine cellar. While clearing it out, we discovered that the hippies who used to live on the property had been growing you-know-what in the cave! No wonder the sheriff's helicopter used to fly over the inn with the ‘copter door open and an infra-red device aimed in the direction of my cave....until he realized hippies no longer lived there! No telling what secrets these age-old Ozark bluffs hold!” Sandra CH Smith, Cliff Cottage Inn, Eureka Springs, AR

“We bought our inn last year, and moved in on May 20, 2004. The previous owners had taken a reservation for a couple to stay for four nights from May 20-25th. We called them, explained that we were the new owners, would be moving in on the day of their arrival, and that they might rather stay elsewhere. They were from Nevada and were excited about coming to upstate New York, and begged us to let them stay at our inn. Fortunately, because three of the five guest rooms came furnished, they did have a beautiful room to stay in. They didn't mind that there would be no decorations, boxes everywhere, no carpets, and so on. It sure did break us in pretty fast, having guests our first day, but we couldn't have asked for nicer people to start our dream with. We took pictures of them and have them hanging up at the inn.” Diane Bednarek, Battle Island Inn Bed & Breakfast, Fulton, NY

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