Living Large Like a Stillwater Lumber Baron

Editor's Note: This is the first installment of our historic Bed and Breakfast series. If you love Victorian architecture at its finest, intriguing history, juicy gossip and romantic B&B’s read on and discover what life was like in the mid to late 1800s when Stillwater was a boom town and money was no option when it came to building big, beautiful homes.

All anyone has to do is drive or walk around Stillwater to appreciate the abundance of fine old Victorian houses that line the streets.  Stillwater’s numerous restored B&B’s offer a chance to experience first hand the style and glory of how yesteryear’s wealthy and their families lived. First up in the series is the , which is owned by innkeepers Jeremy and Erin Drews.

The stick style, 7,000 square-foot Ann Bean Mansion was built between 1878 and 1880 by lumber baron Samuel Hersey, of the prosperous Hersey, Staples and Bean Lumber Company of Stillwater. Stick-style Victorian architecture was popular between 1860-1890 and is generally characterized by exposed trusses, wood exterior wall surfaces with emphases on patterns and lines, over-hanging eaves and steep-gabled roofs with porches covering the front entrance. The austere stick style went out of fashion relatively fast when the showy Queen Anne’s took the nation by storm.

The fickle Samuel Hersey was living in New York when the house was being built and never saw the house until he arrived in Stillwater and about to move in.

“He wasn’t happy with the house and thought it was out of style and he promptly sold it to his business partner, Jacob Bean,” Jeremy Drews said. 

Hersey proceeded to build a smaller more up-to-date house directly across the street. It seems downsizing was popular even back in the day. Mrs. Hersey was so upset with her husband’s decision that she had the front window of her smaller home removed and boarded up so she didn’t have to see the comings and going of the new residents of what should’ve been her magnificent new home. The unofficial town gossip was Samuel Hersey lost the house in a poker game or sold it to pay off his debts.

Jacob Bean and his wife, Cynthia moved in and raised their family there for many years. On June 12, 1901 their daughter Ann, and fiancé, Albert were married in the home in a grand Victorian wedding. Jacob gifted the house to the newlyweds and moved the rest of the family to California to pursue a business venture in the orange grove industry.

The imposing structure boasts seven fireplaces each with their own unique design. The outside walls are over 12-inches thick and built to accommodate the handsome custom wood shutters that fit precisely into each window frame. It was a truly modern home for the day with running water and one downstairs bathroom. The home was turned into a B&B about twenty years ago. 

Today, the Ann Bean Mansion offers five lovely decorated rooms to choose from, each with their own bathroom. One of the third floor rooms has a ladder-type staircase leading to a tower room with a view. There’s a desk and chair for guests to enjoy. For those that value privacy, none of the bedrooms share a common wall. In the morning guests can enjoy a formal four-course breakfast in their rooms or in the grand dining room with its heavy ornate woodwork and built-in buffet and cupboards.

“We provide our guests with a historical environment with modern comforts,” Jeremy Drews said. The elegant front parlor is a perfect spots to relax and play games and socialize.

While there's no way to go back in time, a stay at the Ann Bean Mansion is an opportunity to sit back and close your eyes and imagine how it was during Stillwater’s hey days when lumber was king.