Photo by Leah Ede By Martina Marchese
The inviting warmth feels great as you step into the tiny mudroom with a cow shaped bench, basket of slippers and a tiny note reminding you to take your shoes off.
The comfort and coziness fills you at once, like you’re in your own home. The household golden retriever greets you shyly, but warms up immediately, while Nancy Cameron, innkeeper and owner, floods you with warm welcomes.
Applewood Manor Bed and Breakfast, located on North Road in Castleton is one of the three oldest houses in the town. The middle portion of the house was built in the 1780’s and the colonial addition in the front dates to about 1803, she said. The original fireplace in the kitchen (now the dining room) is still used when guests are enjoying a homemade breakfast cooked by Cameron’s husband, Ralph Hirschfeld.
Noah and Sarah Hoit were the original owners of the house and are buried in the Federated Church graveyard in town. Their son and his wife had two children named Sarah and Delia and the bird and pagoda wall-papered rooms in the manor are named after these family members, said Cameron.
Cameron is originally from Scotland and has been in the United States for 30 years. Small Scottish touches can be found all throughout the house like the tiny male figurine sitting on the top of the fireplace.
“I brought a few antiques from Scotland with me,” said Cameron in a heavy Scottish accent as she spoke
of the grandfather clock in the sitting room.
Cameron said she used to come to Vermont to ski and fell in love with the area.
“Twenty five years ago I brought my parents to Vermont and we stopped in Castleton for gas. My mother was sitting in the back of the car and said ‘Oh, what a lovely little village.’ Twenty years later, I came back,” said Cameron.
She and her husband were both living in Connecticut when they were coming to the end of their corporate careers.
“We needed to find a way to make a living until we could retire and the bed and breakfast idea fit,” she said.
No structural renovations have been made apart from their own living quarters she said. The glassy, well-kept wooden beams, pine floors and industrial kitchen are the perfect touches to contrast the old with the new.
Cameron has no children of her own, but has step-children, grandchildren and a multi-colored, Scottish accent talking parrot.
Maya, the golden-blue Macaw from South America, has a very close relationship with Cameron.
While Maya crawled up Cameron’s arm closing in the distance from her to this reporter, Cameron said, “She put herself between you and me to say that we are an item.”
For a quiet little place in a quiet little town, Cameron has found that summer and fall are the busiest seasons. She was elated to talk about all the various guests she has had over the years; everyone from tourists and celebrities, to international people from places like Switzerland, Belgium, France and New Zealand.
“We get very interesting people,” said Cameron going into detail about an actor from the movie Roots who was a guest at the manor.
Activist, Sandra Fluke, who will be hosting a Soundings event at the college soon, is also booked to stay at the manor. Cameron says the college is a great source of business especially people performing soundings events, family weekend, football and hockey games and also incoming students.
Cameron is always looking for new and exciting events in order to bring people in.
“It’s too late now, but next Valentine’s day, I plan to do an event that will really pack the place,” Cameron said with a bright smile on her face.
The inviting warmth feels great as you step into the tiny mudroom with a cow shaped bench, basket of slippers and a tiny note reminding you to take your shoes off.
The comfort and coziness fills you at once, like you’re in your own home. The household golden retriever greets you shyly, but warms up immediately, while Nancy Cameron, innkeeper and owner, floods you with warm welcomes.
Applewood Manor Bed and Breakfast, located on North Road in Castleton is one of the three oldest houses in the town. The middle portion of the house was built in the 1780’s and the colonial addition in the front dates to about 1803, she said. The original fireplace in the kitchen (now the dining room) is still used when guests are enjoying a homemade breakfast cooked by Cameron’s husband, Ralph Hirschfeld.
Noah and Sarah Hoit were the original owners of the house and are buried in the Federated Church graveyard in town. Their son and his wife had two children named Sarah and Delia and the bird and pagoda wall-papered rooms in the manor are named after these family members, said Cameron.
Cameron is originally from Scotland and has been in the United States for 30 years. Small Scottish touches can be found all throughout the house like the tiny male figurine sitting on the top of the fireplace.
“I brought a few antiques from Scotland with me,” said Cameron in a heavy Scottish accent as she spoke
of the grandfather clock in the sitting room.
Cameron said she used to come to Vermont to ski and fell in love with the area.
“Twenty five years ago I brought my parents to Vermont and we stopped in Castleton for gas. My mother was sitting in the back of the car and said ‘Oh, what a lovely little village.’ Twenty years later, I came back,” said Cameron.
She and her husband were both living in Connecticut when they were coming to the end of their corporate careers.
“We needed to find a way to make a living until we could retire and the bed and breakfast idea fit,” she said.
No structural renovations have been made apart from their own living quarters she said. The glassy, well-kept wooden beams, pine floors and industrial kitchen are the perfect touches to contrast the old with the new.
Cameron has no children of her own, but has step-children, grandchildren and a multi-colored, Scottish accent talking parrot.
Maya, the golden-blue Macaw from South America, has a very close relationship with Cameron.
While Maya crawled up Cameron’s arm closing in the distance from her to this reporter, Cameron said, “She put herself between you and me to say that we are an item.”
For a quiet little place in a quiet little town, Cameron has found that summer and fall are the busiest seasons. She was elated to talk about all the various guests she has had over the years; everyone from tourists and celebrities, to international people from places like Switzerland, Belgium, France and New Zealand.
“We get very interesting people,” said Cameron going into detail about an actor from the movie Roots who was a guest at the manor.
Activist, Sandra Fluke, who will be hosting a Soundings event at the college soon, is also booked to stay at the manor. Cameron says the college is a great source of business especially people performing soundings events, family weekend, football and hockey games and also incoming students.
Cameron is always looking for new and exciting events in order to bring people in.
“It’s too late now, but next Valentine’s day, I plan to do an event that will really pack the place,” Cameron said with a bright smile on her face.
Photo Credit: Leah Ede
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