Day One, Revisited I know I wrote that a year and a half ago, but now that the restoration is (almost) over and the innkeeping has begun, it seems just as appropriate today. Our first guests were a couple from Philadelphia just looking to get away on a Friday night. The sheets had arrived that […]
Tag Archives: Speedwell Forge Bed and Breakfast
The week after I thought the grand opening meant we were done. I’m not sure how I can still be so naive after everything else we’ve gone through, but I think that eternal optimism is one of my charms. Of course, that may just be me being optimistic… I’d forgotten about all the crystal and […]
The end of the beginning The building code inspector came out on Monday for the “final” visit and flagged us for a dozen issues, from a broken emergency light (which we knew about) to all of the shower lines being reversed (which we didn’t know about). Dawn has taken care of everything and so we […]
Grand Opening! The moment you’ve been waiting for — I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:
Coming together Wow. In two days, the painting is finished, the duct work is finished, the kitchen island is finished, the locks are finished, the windows are finished, and the shutters are almost finished. (I was responsible for those, which is why they are behind schedule.) The walkway will be finished tomorrow at 6am, the […]
Down to the wire One week remaining… Saturday Buy coffee maker Install new mailbox Order sheets and towels Find (or order) window pulls Order one more kitchen pull Schedule clock guy Buy bathroom hardware (towel racks, etc.) Sunday Set up walkway, lay wood chips Unpack boxes, organize furniture Invite neighbors Set up canopy bed on […]
Independence Day First, the good news: Last week’s record rainfall did NOT do any significant damage to the mansion. Had it occurred a week earlier, when the driveway was freshly paved, I would not be saying that. Dawn, however, did not sleep for three days. When you’re sleeping in a greenhouse with a plastic roof, […]
National Historic Register Some interesting facts about the National Register: In Lancaster County, there are 212 sites (including us) on the National Register. By comparison, York has 92, Berks County has 130, and Lebanon has 24. (Chester County, though, has 313.) 25 of Lancaster’s “sites” are railroad cars in Strasburg, 25 are covered bridges, and […]
Great news! I received an email today from Barb Raid, architectural historian at Historic York, Inc., who handled our National Register nomination. Hi, Dawn & Gregg — I just received word from Carol Lee at the BHP that your property was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 24, 2006. Congratulations! […]
Summer Kitchen status Lest you thought we were near completion and it was smooth sailing for the next six weeks, let me show you the current state of the Summer Kitchen: