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The Pitcher Inn Passport – Mallard Room

03/28/2019 3:05 pm

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We love giving tours of The Pitcher Inn. One of our favorite things to do – when availability permits – is giving tours of our fabulous guest rooms.  Often, folks will form a deep connection with a specific room and plan their vacation around the availability of their home away from home. We adore this sense of ownership that our friends develop. It’s our dream to give the opportunity to all our followers, friends, and family. We’re starting this series to share the fascinating history and design of The Pitcher Inn. Follow along and find out all the details of your future favorite room.

 

Designer:  Jim Sanford of Sanford & Strauss Architects

The Mallard Room takes you into a duck blind — the original concept has the light slowly rising over the horizon as the sounds of the marsh become louder and ducks and geese can be heard until the loud bang of a gun shoots down your dinner, making it land on the bed in its raw form.  At this point, an enormous wet Black Lab bounds into the room and licks you awake.

Alas, it became necessary to trim back on this design.  Nonetheless, the room is full of decorations that are significant to the experience and tradition of waterfowling both on Lake Champlain and Vermont’s inland waters.  There is, unfortunately, no way to capture the incredible feeling of the marsh just before sunrise in November.  The sounds, light, smells, moist air, and the unbelievable feeling of excitement just can’t be duplicated in a room of any kind.

 

But the Mallard Room comes close to the real thing.  The decorative grass woodwork surrounding the room, along with the lifelike Canvasback Drake and Merganser Drake decoys (both by Gary Starr) make you feel as if you are submerged in the marsh.  Gary was also the mastermind behind the Canada goose overhead (connected to the weathervane on the roof) and is responsible for the ducks on the bedposts.  Of the well-known decoy carvers of Vermont today, Gary’s simple, graceful interpretations are some of the best.

Waterfowling would not be complete without the hunting equipment.  From left to right in the glass case are a pump Marlin Model 43, side-by-side classic Lefever Nitro Special, and a Remington Sportsman.  The Lefever Nitro Special is a gun that is used heavily in the blind and uplands, making it a necessity to have in the case.  All three guns are 12-gauge shotguns and predate the new popular use of the “ski cannon 10s.”

-Maggie Smith, Owner, 1997

The Mallard Room is one of my sleeper favorites. There’s something about the hazy morning painted effect on the gentle arch from wall to ceiling; the strip lights that provide a gentle glow behind the carved reeds; the grounding wood wainscoting adding a sense of being in hiding… It’s a tremendously relaxing room. The huge window, frosted with reeds to continue the trend, overlooks our backyard and a crab apple tree which blooms a beautiful white in the springtime.

Although it doesn’t boast a fireplace, steam shower, or porch, I think there’s a lot to be said for the deep leather sofa (pullout, making it a fabulous room for parents traveling with a child) and ample floor space. There is space to spread out without sterile or melancholic austerity. With the great big king bed, with larger-than-life carved duck heads at the bottom post, there’s a little bit of fairy tale feeling to Mallard. Shotguns aside, there’s more than a bit of Swan Lake present.

 

By their nature, each room has its own quirks that a thoughtful host will warn their guests about. As is our habit, the quirks are typically built-in and planned. The Canada Goose often changes course several times a day, a martyr to the weathervane on the roof overhead. “Not a ghost, not a fan, just the wind,” I warn when introducing our guests to the Mallard Room. If I don’t, I’m sure to get a call later that evening asking how to turn off the fan, or an ‘I don’t believe in ghosts, but…” It’s very relaxing though – once you’re in the know – reclining on the couch with a book, only to become momentarily distracted by the goose turning slowly in the breeze above.

-Mimi Bain, Inn Manager 2019

The Pitcher Inn Passport – Colonial Room

03/01/2019 6:30 am

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We love giving tours of The Pitcher Inn. One of our favorite things to do – when availability permits – is giving tours of our fabulous guest rooms.  Often, folks will form a deep connection with a specific room and plan their vacation around the availability of their home away from home. We adore this sense of ownership that our friends develop. It’s our dream to give the opportunity to all our followers, friends, and family. We’re starting this series to share the fascinating history and design of The Pitcher Inn. Follow along and find out all the details of your future favorite room.

The Colonial Room may be the Inn’s simplest room.  Its shallow by long proportions, sloped ceiling, low reaching windows, and wide plank floors give the fleeting impression of an attic space converted.  The heavily divided spaces, small but dignified (and a little maze-like) are typical of the second-floor rooms in historic Vermont houses.  The impression is intentional.  The room was designed as a Vermont farmhouse bedroom, part of the historic theme of the whole north section of the building.

The main building of the Inn is actually made up of three distinct but connected buildings.  The north section has historical details, the middle section displays present-day details and the south section has futuristic details – i.e. details that evolve current and past details in new directions.

Originally, the intent was for the Colonial Room to have an even simpler design.  The walls were to be left plastered white, the curtains sedate, the furnishings modest and rural.  However, partway through the construction, the room appeared too successfully plain.  At this point, it was embellished with wallpaper, painted molding, drapery and more sophisticated furnishings that lend the room a sweeter if slightly southern flair.

Courtney Fisher executed the original room design.  Courtney was an architect and architectural historian who, in addition to designing the Colonial Room and the library below it, acted as the historical consultant for the entire project.  Karen Schmitz of Karen’s Fabrics and Trading Co. evolved the wall finishes, Maggie Smith selected the furnishings, and Kate Stevens of Sellers and Co. Architects designed the stone and tile work in the bathroom.

Maggie Smith, Owner , 1997

The Colonial Room was first on the tour when I began working at the Pitcher Inn nearly four years ago. That gives ‘The Toile Wonderland’ (as I affectionately introduce it to guests) a very special place in my heart. One of the more sedate rooms, it doesn’t garner as much attention as our flashier fare like Ski, Lodge, or Mountain. That said, Colonial is a classically calm spot for our guests to come to rest.

One of my favorite design aspects of The Pitcher Inn is the juxtaposition between New England Inn and the more whimsical, wild aspects of Vermont. Our rooms facing West and the village center (and The Warren Store!) all share a certain classic charm. Still imaginative and somewhat ‘out-there’, they all share an olden days charm. Colonial is perhaps the sweetest example, peaking through the windows at the upper left side of the Inn. Like Maggie’s note on the directional design, this East-West perspective is another wonderful example of our architect’s attention to detail.

The Colonial Room invites you to unplug, turn off the lights, and sit in front of the dancing fire, letting yourself be transported back to simpler times (albeit with a fully stocked wine cellar two floors below). When the sun peaks over the mountains to the east, rise with the day and write a loved one a little note on the vintage typewriter. When the light begins to wane, take advantage of the modernity and bask in the deep, jetted tub. A little poem in blue and white, The Colonial Room might inspire you to slow down a little, even after you’ve made your farewells, traveled back to the future, and arrived home.

-Mimi Bain, Inn Manager, 2019