Morgantown woman returns to B&B biz with Woodbury Lodge

December 3, 2017 By Woodbury Lodge B&B 45 Comments

WOODBURY – At the end of a road lined with pastures where cattle graze stands the Woodbury Lodge Bed and Breakfast, the second bed and breakfast Morgantown resident Christine Coleman has established.

Roughly a decade after shutting down her previous establishment, Coleman opened Woodbury Lodge in May of 2017.

“When I started trying to do something with it, I went horses, western,” she said.

The western theme is especially prominent in the den, where antler chandeliers, a wooden Native American figure and numerous pieces of furniture with wooden bodies call to mind the country’s pioneer days and “wild west” period.

After buying the house from her son, which she did in an effort to preserve the building, she decided to return to the bed and breakfast business.

“I decided to share it with the world,” she said.

Coleman described the lodge as “a work in progress,” noting that there are plenty of things she wants to do to the property, like install a coffee bar in the furnished basement and remove the hot tub under a gazebo on the back porch, where she hopes she can host weddings.

“Every day I see something else that I want to do to it,” she said.

Coleman has plenty of experience as a bed and breakfast operator, having previously run a bed and breakfast out of the Helm House, a Victorian farmhouse in Morgantown.

Health issues led Coleman to shut down the Helm House roughly a decade ago, she said, adding that she was worried she wouldn’t be able to run a bed and breakfast anymore.

“At the time I didn’t think that I would ever be able to do it again because it took me a long time to desire to,” she said. “I was afraid I would ruin my knees again.”

When she bought the house that would one day be Woodbury Lodge, she wasn’t sure what to do with it on a day-to-day basis and decided to use it as a bed and breakfast.

“I ran a bed and breakfast with it for 14 years and loved, loved, loved, loved the business, so what was I going to do with this house in the meantime?” she said.

Woodbury Lodge has four guest bedrooms, she said.

Coleman has almost entirely eschewed traditional advertising, allowing knowledge of Woodbury Lodge to spread by word of mouth, she said.

Jeff Cardwell, who is originally from Morgantown but now lives in Indianapolis, is one of those who’s stayed at Woodbury Lodge after learning about it through word of mouth.

Cardwell said he took his family, including his wife, son, daughter, son-in-law and grandson to Butler County to see the area where he grew up last weekend and stayed in Woodbury Lodge.

“My youngest son had never been there so I wanted to show him my hometown,” he said.

Before making the trip, Cardwell called a friend who lives in the area and asked where he and his family might be able to stay and, after Woodbury Lodge was recommended, reached out to Coleman and was sold on the lodge based on a few pictures of it that Coleman sent him.

“She sent me some photos, and the place was just stunning,” he said. “We saw the photos and said this is where we want to stay.”

Throughout his family’s stay, Cardwell said he enjoyed soaking in the rural setting from the front porch of Woodbury Lodge after seeing the sights in Morgantown and Bowling Green.

“My wife and I, we could hear the cows mooing and the roosters crowing,” he said. “It was extremely relaxing.”

– Follow reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.

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