There we were, one beautiful Friday evening trying to figure out a place to ride the motorcycles that weekend. It was my turn to figure out where to go as Jim had planned the last couple of rides. I was poking around on the internet looking for places to stay in southern New England when I spotted a note about one inn being haunted. BINGO, that sent me off on a mission!  

 

I started searching the haunted sites on the web and ran across a writeup on the White House, a beautiful bed and breakfast in Wilmington, VT.  The location was perfect, roughly an hour and a half or so away, and the story was interesting.

 

This mansion was built in 1915 as a summer home for a very wealthy lumber baron named Martin Brown. It's both big and beautiful. The views are amazing as it's tucked in the heart of the mountains of Southern Vermont. The main house is incredible, boasting fireplaces in many of the rooms. Then there's the guest house, a smaller, yet beautiful place to stay.

 

Now, about that haunting, here's a little piece I found on the web at www.allstays.com:

"The spirit of Mrs. Martin Brown is said to haunt the historic White House Inn of Wilmington, Vt. Both staff and guests have reported unexplainable cold spots, doors that open by themselves, and visible apparitions. One guest reported being visited by an elderly lady in the middle of the night, who sat in a chair by the bed and exclaimed, "One Mrs. Brown in this room is quite enough!" The guest's name also happened to be Mrs. Brown."

 

When we went, we made a last minute reservation for a room in the guest house. We shared a room with two queen sized beds with my wife's sister Denise and her husband Jim (our frequent riding partners). As it turned out, we had the entire guest house to oursleves.

 

As the evening wore on, we were hanging out in the living room enjoying a fire, a few drinks, and some great conversation. Jim had been sitting on one of the couches with his wife, and stood up to do something. As he moved away from the couch, the rocking chair to his right began to rock. Initially we figured he must have bumped the chair with his foot on his way by, but I have to be honest, the chair rocked a little longer, and a bit more steady than it should have if it had just been bumped. That was a little creepy and probably the most freaky thing that happened that evening.

 

Jim also insisted that a doily on a small table in the hall moved. He was very insistant that this happened that evening and continues to believe that today. Nobody else saw it happen so perhaps it's the adult beverages we were consuming that evening talking (wink).   

Though some of the folks looked at us a bit funny when we arrived on the bikes in full leather, all in all it was an enjoyable weekend. The food in the main house was excellent as were the drinks. The folks we met in the bar and resturaunt were quite fun to talk to. We even had one of the staff show us the hidden staircase after he made us look for it for quite a while. This wasn't cheap, but certainly fun.

 

If you have some money and time to kill this weekend and are looking for a place to ride in Southern New England, be sure to give this a try! Let them know Cool Bike Rides sent you!