Church Retreats find welcome at Granbury, TX B-and-B

The Iron Horse Inn B&B is a great place to hold your church retreat, particularly now that we're close to opening our new Retreat Center. The Inn offers up to 10 bedrooms and suites, in a very peaceful, quiet setting on over one acre of gardens, ancient oaks and old pecan trees - the perfect setting for contemplation, prayer, study or discussion. Besides the retreat center itself, which has two rooms, the inn has two living room/parlors and the dining room, all of which can be reserved for your retreat.

And I would like to make a personal pitch to church folks to schedule their retreat here, because of a long-standing interest of mine. I've mentioned elsewhere on this site that I just recently retired from the U.S. Foreign Service (of the State Department). In that capacity, my two favorite postings were in Washington, where I served as deputy director of the U.S. Office of International Religious Freedom (part of the State Department), and at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where I was religious freedom/human rights officer. In both positions, I helped to promote religious freedom as official U.S. foreign policy, and I still maintain an active interest in religious freedom around the world. So, if your church group shares an interest in this subject, I'd love to speak with you all on the subject, either informally over breakfast, or even as a more formal lecture.

In any case, feel free to give us a call to discuss arrangements to host your church group or retreat! Theresa and I will work hard as your hosts to provide just the right setting to help make yours a rewarding retreat that all will remember.

New Retreat Center at our Granbury B-and-B

Work is now almost complete on our new Artist studio and Retreat Center. The center is Theresa's driving passion which led her to seek out The Iron Horse Inn, our B-and-B here in historic Granbury, TX. She is scheduling nationally-famous quilters and artists to offer classes in the new center beginning in February; participants will be able to stay here in the Inn, which is famous as the largest historic home in Granbury. (The first retreat features quilt artist Karen K. Buckley.) I encourage you to check out Theresa's artistic retreat blog; at the page for the Artistic Retreat Center, you can find more information about the courses we're offering, the instructors, AND the new lower prices we're offering.

The picture above shows the Center, with John Little, our wonderful, dependable contractor who performed the big remodeling project that whipped the old building into shape. (I can heartily recommend John and his Hammerhead Construction company for construction projects).

Until later,
Paul

Wineries complement our Granbury, TX B-and-B

Another fun activity for our guests at the Iron Horse Inn B-and-B in Granbury is visiting some of the local wineries. Theresa and I visited two near Granbury last week, and were very favorably impressed with the natural settings, and with the wines. Both these wineries grow their own grapes on site, but supplement their own harvest with grapes from the High Plains of Texas, where the cool nights are more favorably disposed to great grapes.

Our first stop was to the Barking Rock Winery, not too far down the road west of here. There we met Tiberia (pictured with some of his oak wine barrels), who owns and operates Barking Rock with his wife. (We also met Tiberia's hound, who gave the name to the place.) The winery is a very attractive place, with a large hall for wine tastings, and the live music that Tiberia loves to host on the first Friday of every month. Tiberia is of proud Italian descent from upstate New York, but his wife is a native Texan. Barking Rock is open Saturdays from 1-6 p.m., or by appointment.

Next we called on The Winery at Bluff Dale Vineyards (located midway between Granbury and Stephenville), owned and operated by David and Theresa Hayes (pictured behind their bar). We were very lucky to arrive during a fine performance by a local bluegrass, country and gospel group, AcousticBlend. It was a cold day, so the band was playing inside, but generally the live music, every third Sunday of the month, is held outdoors on the deck, which features a lovely view of the valley and surrounding hill country. David is a native Tennesseean who met his wife Theresa, a native of China, at the University of Tennessee. Their attractive winery is open every day except Tuesdays and certain holidays; guests are welcomed to bring their own snacks or picnics to enjoy with the wine.

Now, I can't boast of being a "oenophile," but I can say that both of these wineries produce some excellent wine deserving of a leisurely tasting. So, next time you're planning to spend a weekend in Granbury - hopefully at a certain historic Granbury, TX B-and-B - we'd urge you to make time for a leisurely afternoon at one of these attractive wineries out in the North Texas hill country. For ourselves, we look forward to sending the participants at Theresa's painting and quilting retreats to unwind at one of these friendly wineries. Cheers!

Neapolitan Presepe at Granbury, Tx B-and-B

Occupying a special corner of the Iron Horse Inn in Granbury, TX is a striking example of a very old Christmas tradition from Naples, Italy - a hand-crafted "presepe" or manger scene. As luck would have it, we put up the presepe here at about the same time as a very impressive and beautiful exhibition of the art went up at Ft Worth's renown Kimbell Art Museum, (The exhibit is definitely worth a trip.) The Granbury B-and-B's presepe is very special to me because it was hand-made by my wife, and your Inn-keeper, Theresa, when I was posted at the U.S. Consulate in Naples, Italy. Theresa learned Italian well enough to study the ancient craft of the presepe with two masters, Neapolitan ladies who taught a handful of students at their kitchen table. Theresa spent literally scores of hours patiently sculpting the hands and faces of the figures of Mary, Joseph, the Christ child, and the three wise men, and sewing their silk outfits. Visitors to the Inn who've viewed the Kimbell exhibition have told us that Theresa's presepe is a worthy example of the art form. Besides being a heartfelt expression of the true spirit of Christmas, this piece of art is indicative of the love of the arts that Theresa wants to nurture with the various painting and quilting retreats and workshops that we're going to be offering here at the B-and-B beginning in January. We invite you all to come out to Granbury to our B-and-B, the Iron Horse Inn, during this Christmas season to check out Theresa's presepe! Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!

Girlfriend Getaways at the Iron Horse Inn

This past weekend we hosted a nice group of young ladies (see photo) as our first "Girlfriends Getaway" here at the Inn. These events are increasingly popular as groups of women, of all ages, get away by themselves to have some quality time together in a pleasant environment. The historic Iron Horse Inn is a particularly fun place for such getaways, especially convenient for groups from the Dallas-Ft Worth and Austin areas. Granbury is a very quaint and safe small town, with a historic town square, great shopping and nice restaurants. AND, once a month, the town hosts a "ladies night out" with lots of fun activities, with discounts, planned in the square.

For a particularly special getaway, consider one of our painting or quilting retreats!

So, if you're dreaming up a fun getaway with your girlfriends, look through our lovely themed bedrooms and cottages (with original antiques) here on the site to find the right combination of accomodations. Give us a call, and we'll see what else we can cook up in the way of packages to suit your special interests!

Iron Horse Inn on Candlelight Tour

Granbury's 25th annual Candlelight Tour of homes was pronounced a big success by the organizers (proceeds went to charity). We at the Iron Horse Inn were inundated with a steady stream of visitors last Saturday and Sunday. Theresa greeted our guests decked out in an Edwardian-period costume, as the first lady of the house, Mrs. Lucy Cogdell, might have worn in the early years of the century (photo). The inn-keeper-ette sewed the suit herself! (In the photo, Theresa was explaining to guests our plans to offer artistic and quilting retreats.)

During the tour, a crew of wonderful volunteer "docents" helped us tell some of the stories behind the historic Iron Horse Inn. Coordinating the crew was our good friend, Sylvia Hickey. Theresa and I were greatly impressed by the community spirit shown by all of Granbury's volunteer involved - all these folks have regular jobs and/or their own businesses to run! The kind lady who played the keyboard in the Inn's front parlor, Mrs. Veriena Braune, has her own B-and-B to run, as do 2 of our other docents, Tom and Sarah Baker. Our guests were also regaled by a top-class (in my humble opinion) Barbershop Quartet (see photo) - thanks to all! You guys are a credit to Granbury.

Christmas Festivities in Granbury

Howdy, folks - Last week Theresa and I attended one of Granbury's big annual events - the traditional Christmas parade, which concludes with the lighting of all the town's Christmas lights, for which it's justly famous. Luckily, the weather was mild, so everyone gathered in the town's historic square was comfortable. This is very much a small-town affair, in the best sense of the term - embodying traditional small-town values (sometimes I catch myself almost saying "Maybury" for Granbury...). A lot of guests from out of town crowded the square area, most everyone holding a lit candle, which provided a beautiful spectacle, including the singing of Christmas carols. Then we were treated to the Christmas parade, featuring small floats sponsored by Granbury's churches and civic groups - one of the highlights for me was the wise men riding horses, from a local Cowboy Church (I'm going to have to check that out - stay tuned for a later installment!)

Anyway, the lights are up and running, and historic Granbury is putting on its Christmas best for everyone to enjoy - including the historic Iron Horse Inn (see a Christmas photo here), so please make plans to visit! You might even want to mark your calenders to attend the Christmas parade next year.

NOTE - In a few days, I'll write about Theresa's beautiful "presepe" or traditional Neapolitan manger scene, which, in keeping with the quilting and arts retreats we're offering, she hand-crafted herself.