Bed and breakfast inn outside Cleveland has Amish flavor
By Mike Kelly
Toledo
Blade Travel Writer
BURTON, Ohio - For more than three decades,
Gordon Safran's primary focus was on eyes, as owner of the E.B.
Brown optical chain, with stores in three states.
These days, the 68-year-old Safran is more
interested in sighs - the kind that come with complete relaxation -
as the owner, with his wife Evie, of the Red Maple Inn, a lavish,
18-room bed and breakfast inn in this rural community in northeast
Ohio's Geauga County.
"This is a retreat where people can come and
really relax," he said.
After 35 years as owner and president of E.B.
Brown, Safran sold all 42 of his stores - including a few in Toledo
- in 1996. He then began looking for a place where he and his wife
might open a country inn, but one that could double as a small
business conference center as well.
"We used to have meetings at a place in Holmes
County, and we found that we could get a lot more work done in that
type of surroundings," he said.
Plus, he was a savvy enough businessman to know
that leisure travelers alone normally don't keep a bed and breakfast
full, particularly during the week.
Safran, a Clevelander, was already familiar
with the rural area around Burton, having visited it often when his
family was younger. It's located near one of the largest
concentrations of Amish people in the country, and the scenery and
nearby recreational offerings make it an ideal spot for a getaway.
"When the children were small, we used to come
here for events - apple butter festivals and maple festivals, things
like that - and I decided this might be a nice place to spend our
retirement years," he said.
Burton is also home to Century Village, a
cluster of 21 historic buildings representing a restored
19th-century village. Operated by the Geauga Historical Society, the
living history museum includes a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop,
church, marshal's office, homes, and more. Inside one of its houses
is the nationally known Thoburn toy soldier collection, with 9,000
pieces.
After considering a few places that he might be
able to convert into a bed and breakfast, Safran eventually decided
to build his own, and he selected a three-acre parcel of land right
next to Century Village. It took him a year to close the deal on the
land, and another year to convince local officials to rezone the
property to allow him to build his inn.
"They wanted to keep the town low-key," he
said, "and they didn't think we'd make it, and they'd wind up with
an empty building sitting here. But they were finally convinced that
it would be good for the area."
The two-story inn, which cost almost $2 million
to build, was constructed and furnished by Amish builders and
craftsmen. Built in Western Reserve style, the inn's exterior is
white, with dark shutters. The first floor's outside wall is covered
with fieldstones, and the circular drive that leads to the front
door runs beneath a large portico that doubles as an oversized porch
for the inn's one suite.
Actually, to call the Red Maple Inn a
bed-and-breakfast is a bit misleading; it's more like a small hotel,
with an elevator, fitness center, and computer modem hook-ups in all
the guest rooms. But the friendly staff and some of its amenities
set it apart from the typical hotel.
The front desk has a plate of cookies or
pastries waiting for guests when they arrive to check in, or
whenever they happen to wander by. There's a cozy, well-stocked
library with a fireplace just down the hall from the main dining
room, and a big covered veranda out behind the banquet room with a
row of chairs where guests can sit and look out at the rolling
countryside. Near the veranda is a small putting green, with putters
and golf balls available for the asking at the front desk.
On weekday evenings, complimentary wine and
cheese is served.
And of course, there are those hearty buffet
breakfasts each morning, which might include fresh fruit, eggs,
casseroles, pancakes or waffles served with locally produced maple
syrup, and more.
All of the guest rooms are on the second floor;
some have gas fireplaces and balconies, and all provide nice views
of woodlands, Amish farms, or Century Village. Each room has its own
bathroom with Jacuzzi tub, and also a nightlight that stays on all
the time.
"If it bothers you when you're trying to sleep,
you just close the bathroom door," said Safran.
The rooms are decorated in soft florals and
filled with handcrafted Amish furniture. TVs and VCRs in each room
are tucked away in armoires, and soft music is piped into the room
through a small speaker in the telephone that can be turned on and
off by the guest.
Most of the rooms have king or queen-sized
beds, and many have pull-out couches for extra guests. Nice little
touches include blankets sandwiched between clean sheets and
imported Gilchrist and Soames toiletries, including bath gel for the
Jacuzzis.
Down in the basement, or "Lower Level," as its
called, the small fitness center has a treadmill, elliptical
trainer, and stationary bike. There is also a Ping-Pong table and a
bumper pool table.
About 70 percent of the inn's business is
leisure, with the rest business travelers or groups, Safran says.
The banquet room, which holds up to 100 people, can be used for
meetings, rehearsal dinners, small weddings, class reunions, and
other events.
There's plenty to do in the Burton area at any
time of the year. For shoppers, the local Amish community operates
several furniture, gift, and craft stores, and there are antique
stores, wineries, farm markets, and outlet malls nearby. Guests can
also visit cheese factories, a buffalo-breeding farm, and an alpaca
farm.
Safran compares the area to north central
Ohio's Holmes County, the largest Amish community in the world - but
says there's a big difference, too. "We've got 10,000 Amish around
here, but it's so much less commercial than Holmes County, which
gets 4 million visitors a year," he said. "Other than the big theme
parks, that's the biggest tourist attraction in Ohio."
Safran has a deep interest in the Amish
culture, and tries to share it with his guests. Each of the inn's
guest rooms has a collection of books and videos about the Amish.
There are Amish dinners each Wednesday night at the inn, and Safran
says he plans to bring in experts from time to time to speak about
the Amish community and answer questions.
Many of the inn's 20 employees, including the
cooks, are Amish women.
During warm-weather months, seven nearby golf
courses offer discounts to guests of the inn, and boating and
fishing are minutes away at Headwater Park, LaDue Reservoir, and
Punderson State Park. Inn guests can also use the pool facilities at
Punderson at no charge.
Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, one of Ohio's
largest theme parks, is a 20-minute drive away in Aurora.
In the winter, there's downhill skiing at
Alpine Valley ski resort, and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling,
and hiking at several nearby locations.
All year round, the inn provides maps with
suggested driving and hiking itineraries on it, along with a list of
area attractions. But even with all the options available, Safran
said some guests prefer to simply "enjoy the slowness that life can
have."
The inn welcomes families, Safran said, but
that's not the demographic it's trying to attract. "A lot of people
come here just to get away, for the quiet," he said.
An upscale restaurant at the inn might seem
like a natural addition, but Safran said there are no plans for
that. "A high-end restaurant would probably do well here," he said,
"but we don't want to undertake it. Remember, this is supposed to be
a retirement project."
There are a number of good dining spots within
a few minutes drive of the inn, including John Palmer's Restaurant
in Chardon, Grandview Restaurant in Middlefield, and Ferrante Winery
in Geneva.
Another option, of course, is the inn's weekly
Amish dinner ($25 per person, reservations required), a bountiful
family style spread that includes chicken and roast beef, plus all
the trimmings. A local group of balloonists often fire up their
colorful balloons and launch them behind the inn during the
Wednesday evening dinner, and guests get a front-row seat for the
spectacle.
There are a handful of eateries within walking
distance in downtown Burton. One that's certainly worth a visit is
Cogan's, which boasts of its "bad food and lousy service."
We stopped in one night shortly before the 9
p.m. closing time, hoping for a quick bite, and asked the cook, a
burly young guy in a white T-shirt and apron, if he could
accommodate us. "Sure, if you don't mind a terrible meal."
The meal we ordered, chicken parmesan with
rigatoni, was anything but terrible, which might be why the menu
brags about it: "Believe it or not, it's excellent! We rarely screw
this one up!"
There's a journal in each of the inn's rooms
where guests can leave comments before they depart. One entry from
the guest book in our room was written by a woman from Salt Lake
City:
"I've stayed on business at some fine hotels -
the Palmer House in Chicago, the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco. For
a beautiful room, comfort, service and hospitality, the Red Maple
Inn beats them - hands down!"
AAA apparently agrees, awarding the inn its
coveted 4-diamond rating earlier this year - the only large B&B in
the state to receive the designation.
|
