Malayzia Mag Issue 7: The Thanksgiving Edition | Page 30

town. A magnificent neoclassical mansion built in 1905, it stands in a quiet residential
neighborhood just outside the city’s bustling little downtown. Owners Hank and Barb Rishel
spent the better part of five years restoring, redecorating and refurnishing its nine
guestrooms, common areas and third-floor ballroom.
The results are spectacular: intricately hand-painted and stenciled walls, elegant draperies
and soaring ceilings, with every piece of furniture carefully chosen for its authenticity. This
isn’t for visitors who’ve come north to listen to the coyotes howl at the moon -- it’s for people
who prefer to be close to the boutiques, galleries, restaurants and nightlife of downtown
Traverse City
.
Just as passionate in their pursuit of historic authenticity – in a very different setting – are
Bruce andAngie Jensen of the 1869 Old Mission Inn, the region’s oldest continuouslyoperating hotel. Located in the picturesque harbor town of Old Mission, the rustic green-andwhite hotel with its long veranda and gabled windows is a rare surviving example of
19th century vernacular-style resort architecture.
Like the Rishels, the Jensens spent years
restoring the hotel, and today its 13
guestrooms are filled with reminders of its
former life as the village post office, telephone
company and stagecoach stop. But in spite of
its impressive pedigree, the Inn is still very
much a relaxed and informal place where
guests laze under the broad veranda on hot
afternoons and gather around the bonfire to
share s’mores and stories on summer nights.
Only a few minutes away, perched atop a high ridge above Grand Traverse Bay, is the
elegant Chateau Chantal Winery B&B, a working Old World-style surrounded by amazing
180-degree views of the 65 acres of vineyards that surround it, sloping down to the water
below. Built in 1993 by Bob and Nadine Begin, it was originally designed as a three-room
bed & breakfast and later enlarged to 11 rooms – each designed with a particular
Impressionist painter in mind, and provided with stunning vistas of the surrounding
countryside.