First I will apologize for not having any photos and I promise I will go back one day and get lots of photos, the one posted below is one from Barry’s archives. I also felt a little presumptuous pulling my camera out in this woman’s home although I think she would have been totally fine with it!
The Stanley Hotel … that actually isn’t called the Stanley hotel it’s the Lightening Hotel, I find out after having it wrong for 4 years! Last summer I did a post (might have been on my old blog that was lost) about the Stanley hotel going up for sale for $275,000 and selling within a week. We were so surprised! Here is a building that was built in 1863 with no amenities and no chance of ever getting any on a road all alone in the middle of no where sells that fast for that much money… Wow! Big things started to happen. The land was cleared and a big snow shed went up, we thought miners had bought it because there was a fair amount of mining going on in that area already so it made sense. We drove by often, about once a week in the winter to take the dogs for a run on the road by the cemetery. There were huge dogs and we saw men around so never stopped in. Finally one day a few weeks ago Barry decided to stop and met Karen who insisted he bring me around so first chance we had, we stopped so I could meet Karen…
We pulled into the yard and were greeted by a 130 lb white absolutely gorgeous dog… Clyde. I don’t remember what breed Clyde is but he is one of a matched set and his better half is at Karen’s 220 acre ranch in Horsefly watching over her heard of sheep. “Is Clyde friendly?” I ask… “Well he will be okay with you but don’t let your little dogs out, he will eat them”. Okay… Note to self, give Clyde a wide birth. She starts showing us something at the side of the house and I immediately get distracted by the make shift pen and rooster she has… Beautiful rooster! Then 3 crows show up… Her pet crows! She found one a couple of years that was injured and he became her pet (he was up on the mountain side when were there)and then a few months ago someone dropped off 3 baby crows that had lost their momma. She nursed them and nurtured them and now they are grown up and they are her pets. (Didn’t catch their names). The bugs were thick so she invited us inside. This building is all original and beautiful! She has 9 solar panels outside that gives her enough power to have the basics. She said she could run a frdige and stove if she wanted to but she doesn’t. She has internet… No phone. So… Here was Karen living by herself all winter and nobody knew! She had been admiring this property for over 20 yrs and actually went around telling people it would be hers one day so as soon as it went on the market, she grabbed it.
The hotel is drafty, there is no insulation. It is built with squared off logs and was never chinked (term for stuffing wadding between the logs for insulation) and she had only one stove so she totally froze all winter (we had a brutal winter). She has sheep so she is now going around and chinking all the walls with wool. The house has 4 bedrooms upstairs … Apparently a bit of a brothel in its day. The windows are situated in the bedrooms so when you lay in bed you look right outside… Very nice! Poor Karen was so lonely all winter, she said she took to drinking! She had such a bad experience that she is selling it! What a drag! She has been a rider her whole life and wanted to open a trail ride /bed and breakfast business, she has horses and all the gear, it would have been great but she said she can’t do another winter there. After talking with her for a few hours it became apparent that she had realized over the long, hard, cold winter that she is indeed 68 yrs old and maybe it’s time to slow down a bit! She is going to sell both properties and she has her eye on a little log cabin on 13 acres that a little old couple has done up nicely and will need little to no work… Time to kick back! She is a very interesting lady! I am leaving for almost a month on Wednesday but we have a date when I get back, I’m going to go and spend an afternoon with her and I’ll get some photos. The house is fascinating, the contents are fascinating (full of antiques), the history is fascinating and Karen is fascinating! I can’t wait to get back and spend some time with my new friend… I am so sad she is leaving!
Stay tuned…
Little trivia we learned from Karen… A lot of time you will see a door on the second floor of a building that has no balcony… there are a few in Barkerville and the Lightening Hotel has one (you can see it in the photo), I always wondered why. It turns out it is so the stage coach can pull up close to the building and all the luggage on the top can be easily thrown in the doorway and distributed to the rooms from there. So smart!!! Makes perfect sense but it never dawned on me. The things you learn!