We came here to run a family business in 2005: a 32-room mountain inn … a project that has been more rewarding than our wildest imaginations would have ever led us to believe. Downsizing from our spacious home to a small apartment at the inn was a bit challenging for the 6 of us at first, but adapt we did.  While many people have romantic visions of buying a Bed & Breakfast to “retire” to, nothing could be further from reality!  Innkeeping is a 24/7, year-round commitment and a LOT of work from morning till night. As a person who needs more than the average dose of solitude, peace and quiet, this started taking its toll after about year #5. (Innkeeping can be a bit like living in a fishbowl, except that unlike fish, you tend to have constant interruptions).  And THAT (not coincidentally) was the year we bought my little cabin in the woods! It was the place where I could get away from phone calls, responsibilities and round the clock work.

So let me take you there and show you around. We get to my cabin by going through the Jackson Covered Bridge, our iconic portal that magically takes us back in time to what some folks refer to us as “Norman Rockwellville.”

Jackson is the quintessential, old fashioned New England village with a year-round population of  about 700. We’re smack-dab in the middle of the 800,000+  acre White Mountain National Forest. As we go through town past the Grammar School, Town Hall, the village Gazebo, and the old library, we’ll turn right at the 1848 Community Church  and go up past Jackson Falls. I like to stop at the falls to on my walk or bike ride to work. It’s a great place to stop to meditate on quiet thoughts, read a book or take an early morning swim. I have to say that my short ‘commute’ to work is one of the most beautiful I could ever imagine!

Interestingly, these ancient and magnificent falls were the impetus for the tourism industry here, which has been going 150 years strong. The ‘Hudson River’ school of painters (men like Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, Champney, Shapleigh and many others) somehow found their way up here to our mountains from their urban studios in the early part of the 19th Century.  They painted idyllic scenes of our falls, the majestic intervales and breathtaking scenes of Mount Washington. When their works were displayed back in the cities, people naturally wanted to know where they could see these lovely places in person. They came slowly at first, staying in local farmhouses, which became the first ‘Bed & Breakfasts’. Eventually, in the height of tourism here (the 1890 -1940s) over 40 trains a day were bringing passengers to our little hamlet,  from as far away as  Boston and New York City.  Many would stay the entire summer at the grand hotels, only a few of which are still standing.  My cabin is built on the land of one of the very first farmhouses here in Jackson, and amazing stone walls still outline the  boundaries of my property.

I live on a dead end road on 2 1/2 acres of woods that overlook Mount Washington when the leaves are off the trees in winter.  I am a 5 minute walk from the falls and about the same distance in the other direction from miles and miles of the Tin Mountain Conservation Center nature trails. Hundreds of kilometers of groomed cross country ski trails are maintained by the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation, the largest in the northeast, which go right past my land.  PLUS,  I’m just a 15 minute walk (or a 5 minute bike ride) from my inn.  How lucky am I?  Location, location, location!!

So now that we’re here and you’ve got the lay of the land, so to speak, let me show you around!  I’m proud of the work I’ve done this spring … from building some stone walls, staining the decks, to making shutters and window boxes. My big project was staining the exterior of the logs of my cabin with a wood preservative, that brought out the honey-gold tones of the rich patina of the old wood. (This was the project that resulted in me accidentally dumping half a bucket of oil stain on my head!). Anyway, the outside looks great now, and I love to sit out on my porch and look at nature, where moose, black bear and foxes are regular visitors through my yard.

My cabin is actually bigger than it looks, which works out great for offering some of the women’s weekend workshops I’ve designed, and perhaps some future farmgirl get-togethers I hope to host. I’ve had great plans for the kitchen since I bought it, hoping one day to transform the 50’s-style cabinets and formica countertop into more of a rustic Adirondack ‘mountain’ look. The only thing that’s blatantly missing from my farmhouse kitchen though, is my wood cookstove, something I consider a kitchen necessity.  I’ve always had one, and we sold my last one with our house because the buyer said he wouldn’t close the deal without it. Alas ... I’m still looking for the perfect stove to take its place!

The dining corner is very cozy and ‘nookish’, and I have spent days on end here writing articles on my laptop at the kitchen table. It is such a comfortable, inviting spot … a sweet little place to have family suppers and friends in for tea. (Although when we have a crowd visiting, we usually either go out on the covered porch or into the living room).  I love a roof-covered porch, don’t you?  Here I can BBQ veggies on the grill in any weather, keep my firewood supply nice and dry; sit and rock in a favorite chair and watch the sunset, which is better than any nature channel on TV. My husband wants to screen it in … but I’ve put up enough resistance so far to keep that from happening. I like that feeling of being ‘outside’ that screens just don’t deliver.  Of course, black fly season is another story altogether … and this year was a DOOSIE!  Maybe it was all the rain we had in the spring, but I have never experienced black flies like this before. I welt up like a goose-egg with each bite … and they sometimes cover my neck and the back of my ears. Oh my!! The screens seemed a bit more tempting this year as a result, but fortunately the blackflies vanished before my husband thought too much more about it.

My little living room, with its cathedral ceiling and toasty warm woodstove is THE place to be in winter!  I love to sit by the stove and knit, rocking in my favorite rocking chair.  I will never part with this chair!  I bought it after my oldest son, Chris was born (the one who just got married last month). I used to sit and nurse him, rock and sing, read books, and talk to him for hours and hours on end. Of course, all Chris’ siblings followed suit.  When Chris was about two, I was in New York City and discovered an exact replica of ‘my’ chair in miniature!  This became ‘Chris’ chair, although all the kids used it … and I still love to sit in it.  It is one of my special treasures and has many happy memories associated with it. Someday my grandchildren will rock in it beside me!

The guest room (should you ever come for a visit) is located on the first floor near the bathroom.  In it is my great-grandmother’s bed, a curly maple design from a bygone era. I love this bed, but the footboard makes it very uncomfortable for my 6 foot – 2 inch husband to stretch out and get a good night’s sleep! This room has a great view of the stream that gushes by in the springtime from all the mountain run-off. The rest of the year it’s just a peaceful place to cool my feet.

There are two rooms upstairs … the master bedroom, and the loft which also doubles as an office and some extra sleeping space.  When most people come to visit, they usually think this is the end of the tour, but actually there is a 3rd living floor on the downstairs level which I’ve finished off into my studio.

Log cabins by nature are a bit dark for some people’s taste. My basement studio however, is just flooded with light from banks of windows on three sides, as well as from the white plastered walls which reflect it. It is a creative, happy, airy space, and one where I spend a lot of my private time. It doubles as the music room, the art room, the read-a-book-in-front-of-the-fireplace room … a place where I can relax, let loose and be myself! Do you have a space somewhere like that?

I have a tiny efficiency kitchen off the studio and also a bathroom down here, as well as a walk-out porch nearly as large as the one off the living room. From here I can walk right out to my campfire pit where burning brush doubles a social art in the evenings, as we are mesmerized by the log-licking flames. It’s a sacred time when words are seldom needed as each person  is bonded to another, while immersed in their own thoughts.

My woods, just beyond the firepit, are delightful, and I’ve made some hiking trails through them.  I own my own spring which feeds crystalline water to the cabin. It’s located near a wild-watercress garden and along two gigantic boulders. I’ve affectionately named them “Leatherback” and “Gibraltar” …  leftovers from  ancient glacial deposits. They’re just downhill from two enormous white pine trees (“The Sisters”) which emerge from a single trunk and rise hundreds of feet into the air. I have picked out spots in the woods where I hope to someday build a yurt and erect my tipi, and also locate a Tiny House I will someday build.  I want to get another goat, keep some more bees and start another flock of chickens, too. These are all ‘back burner’ projects that I hope to get around to … unless, that is,  something else is in the cards …

And herein lies my dilemma, gals. I figure that my husband and I have about 5 good years of innkeeping left in us, after which time we will be ready to “retire” (I use that word very loosely!!). Five years from now, God willing, both of our sons will be married; Noah will have his Ph.D; our daughter will have graduated from the Maine College of Art, and Josh will be starting college if he so desires. And I?  I will be ready, willing and able to jump into about a thousand and one projects that I’ve been wanting to undertake but for the lack of time. While I would love to live the rest of my life in these mountains, my husband has had a love affair with the Maine coast for many years and dreams of buying a small peninsula or tiny island there. Surprisingly, several trips to Maine this year have given this landlubbering Farmgirl an unexpected appreciation for the rugged beauty of the breathtaking coastal scenery. What a diverse country we live in … so much variety and beauty surround us wherever we look! Will it be mountains? The coast? It can’t be both, unfortunately, so I have a decision to make ... and obviously, it’s not mine alone to make. So what’s in the future for my little mountain hideaway?  Can I even imagine parting with the comfort and security I have carved out here in this place which has so much as yet untapped potential? Or like a pioneer, can I imagine myself embarking on a new journey into an unknown (to me at least) frontier, and reinventing myself somewhere else?  Only time will tell … but it’s an interesting thought to ponder. Has anybody else recently come to a crossroads in their life, where one path would lead you in a completely different direction from the other?  What was it, and on what did you make your decision? I’d love to know … The twists and turns of the paths in our lives are certainly interesting!
Until next time,
Mountain Bounty, Mountain Blessings from 
Cathi, the Mountain Farmgirl (at least for awhile!)