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For the over 10 years I was involved with our inn, The 1860 House, I have wonderful memories. Since our inn was small, of high quality, and located in a resort vacation area, our guests were relaxed, culturally and geographically diverse, generally extremely well educated and knowledgeable. We usually ate breakfast family style with our guests and we also, in the late afternoon, gathered together with them before dinner for conversation and appetizers. Our guests were a wonderful source of information and ideas in a relaxed non-pressured setting. Often we would have folks from several different countries conversing together about a specific topic. We had wide-ranging discussions about the differences between health care systems in America, Canada and various European countries. We discussed cultural and religious differences and how they were handled in various countries and parts of our country. We discussed education, international finance and economic policy differences with experts from leading universities and organizations. Along the way we met and became friends with many wonderful people. The 1860 House also afforded me with a way to indulge my strong interest in landscape design and gardening. Between the mid 1970's and the early 1990's I designed and supervised construction of stone walls, planted and pruned hedges of Canadian Hemlock and dwarf mugho pine, planted dwarf fruit trees of apple, pear and plum and, together with my wife, designed, planted and maintained both annual and perennial flower gardens that were designed to bloom consistently from spring through fall with coordinated colors. I was extremely proud of our landscape efforts and the many compliments we received from our Stowe neighbors and guests. Although my law practice, our inn and its related activities occupied much of my time, I still tried to find time for other activities. In August of 1991 my brother Peter and his wife asked if their two children could spend 9 days with me while they went on a business trip to Australia. Nancy (then 9), Thomas (then 11) and I talked about how we would spend our time together and decided to hike the Long Trail from Middlebury Gap, near their home, to Stowe. Nine days and 80+ miles later we arrived in Stowe at the top of Mt. Mansfield.
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