Latest at the Harrison House

Thinning of the Veil

2011-10-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

Summer has faded into Autumn...the days are becoming shorter and winter is a whisper on the horizon. I love this time of year as the trees sing with new colors, squirrels scavage and fatten, plants fold back into the earth and the air is crisp and clean.
October brings the "thinning of the veil" between the spirit world and those of us still on earth...it is a time when our 2 worlds seem to touch....when we are most open and receptive to the more subtle energies around us.
Harrison House has been "alive" with spirited visitors this month. Guests have reported bedroom doors ajar in the morning, positive that they shut and locked the doors at night. A man was heard whistling at 2am. Two guests swear they felt someone in the shower with them. My daughter asked me to knock before entering her room...I had not be upstairs all morning!
Time to fess up...Harrison House is indeed "haunted!" 4 active spirits have been identified as permanent residents of the B&B.
Cedric is very social and often joins us for breakfast. He is a smoker and cannot seem to remember NOT to smoke in the house. Guests often comment on the smell of a faint odor of cigarette or cigar smoke in the 2nd floor sitting area. Cedric is often seen with a young boy nicknamed Moby.
The 3rd floor attic was Moby's playroom, lead soldiers were his favorite toys. The attic space is now a guest room and people leave behind special items...there are 23 soldiers, a motorcycle, seashells and numerous other memorabilia. Moby is very playful and often pops out of the foyer closet.
Our 3rd resident is Jakob...a quiet bi-polar fellow unless he is riled up...Jakob runs through the halls of the 2nd and 3rd floors, knocks into furniture and is the one I suspect who pulls paintings off the walls. Thankfully he is generally pretty quiet.
Our 4th spirit is Nancy, the matriarch of the the house. I have been told that she actually "found" me and brought me to Harrison House in 2006 to be the new owner. Thank you Nancy, I have had the best 5 years meeting guests, experimenting with new breakfast entrees and living in this exquisite home!

Columbus..NatGeo Top 10 Fall Destinations

2011-08-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

National Geographic has included Columbus among its Top 10 fall vacation destinations
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/best-trips-fall-2011/#/jenis-splendid-ice-cream_37632_600x450.jpg

Front Garden Landscaping

2011-08-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

Day 1...clearing the front gardens...Guroy Lawn Care of Columbus

Events to Experience August 10-16 2011

2011-08-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

Columbus Food Adventures: German Village Walking and Tasting Tour
6/25/11 thru 9/17/11
German Village is Columbus' most historic and picturesque neighborhood; full of cobblestone streets lined with beautifully restored brick cottages...

CAPA Summer Movie Series: Hitchcock's Vertigo
8/10/11 thru 8/11/11
The CAPA Summer Movie Series, the longest-running classic film series in America, presents Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo starring James Stewart. Hailed...

Pecha Kucha
8/11/11
Pecha Kucha Columbus kicks off with local band The Wet Darlings and presentations will begin following sundown.

JazZoo: Elvis, The Beatles & Beyond featuring Dan Faehnle and Jonathan Elliott
8/12/11
Relive the birth of rock 'n' roll as the CJO plays its versions of the hit tunes of The King, The Fab Four and more! The CJO will be joined by...

Festival Latino
8/13/11 thru 8/14/11
Celebrate family and community with a day of children's activities, music, food, and dance from the heart of Latin America. Saturday night...

http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/event-calendar.cfm

Columbus Museum of Art free for summer

2011-06-18T03:32:00.001-07:00

Museum of Art goes free for summer thanks to grant

Business First - by Adrian Burns

Date: Friday, June 17, 2011, 2:54pm EDT

Enlarge Image

File photo

The Columbus Museum of Art underwent a major renovation in 2010.

Love art? Want to do something indoors to beat the heat?

Then the Columbus Museum of Art might be the activity for you this summer. It’s offering free admission in July and August – an offer that even includes special exhibitions. Funding from the PNC Foundation made the free admission possible, the museum said.

A visit will be a special treat for anyone who hasn’t been to the museum in awhile, since it underwent a $6.9 million renovation in 2010 and reopened in January.

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except for on Thursdays, when it stays open until 8:30 p.m.

Lunch time concerts at the Ohio State House

2011-05-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.ohiostatehouse.org/Events/Calendar/Event.aspx?eventId=111086

Middle West Spirits

2011-03-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

http://middlewestspirits.com/

Meet OYO

Our flagship spirit is named after the original word for the Ohio River Valley (“O-Why-O”) and is a smooth, full-bodied vodka brimming with character. Made from local, soft red winter wheat, OYO demonstrates a perfect balance of cutting-edge technology, old-world traditions, and the finest, farm-fresh ingredients. OYO makes an excellent sipping vodka, as well as a perfect pairing for mixers and culinary creations.

We visited this wonderful micro-distillery...had a tour of the facility and taste tested their wonderful vodkas...OYO Vodka and OYO Honey Vanilla Bean...both proved to taste above and beyond our expectations. We highly recommend a visit when you are in Columbus

International house

2010-11-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

Harrison House was an international melting pot last night and breakfast this morning. We had guests from the Czech Republic, Austria, Japan, and our regular from NYC. Breakfast was fun and everyone was able to communicate in some form of English. The 2, absolutely darling, little girls from Japan counted for us in English and recited Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!
Planning to take my Austrian guest on a tour down to Hocking Hills on Friday...hoping to hike into Old Man's Cave and have a light lunch in the hills.

Columbus Landmarks Ghost Tour

2010-11-15T13:57:00.001-08:00

We were extremely happy to participate in the Columbus Landmarks Ghost Tour. Harrison House was the final stop on the tour 3 nights straight. Great turnout and visitors had lots of questions. I was able to give a short history of the house and then relate stories of our hauntings. We have 4 resident spirits who keep us company throughout the house...they greet guests, knock on doors, hide pens, run around the halls. They like to rest on freshly made beds, so I have to constantly remind them that they are to stay off the beds, guests don't like entering their rooms to find head prints indented on the pillows! Have had 2 paranormal groups spend the night in the last 2 years and have recently been contacted by another group who will stay here after the first of the year. I plan to give my spirits a little pep talk before the visit and maybe they will be more active for us. Will keep you updated on spirit events as well as normal happenings around the Inn.

Gilchrist & Soames

2010-11-15T13:28:00.001-08:00

Harrison House B&B now has full size amenities from Gilchrist & Soames.
http://www.gilchristsoames.com/

Neighborhood goes from downtrodden to trendy

2010-09-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 02:53 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH

Debra Heimanni, at right, and a friend, who asked not to be identified, visit on a sunny day in the Harrison West neighborhood.

COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH

Jim Houchard takes his toy poodle, Zoey, for a ride on his Segway. Houchard, his wife, Carol, center, and their neighbor Phyllis Loftus have seen many changes in the years that they've lived in Harrison West.

HARRISON WEST

Population: 3,191
Residential properties that are single-family: 67 percent
Residential appraised value, average: $195,939 (2007)
High-school graduate: 90 percent
Bachelor's degree: 55 percent

Source: Community Research Partners

Where We Live

Read about other neighborhoods

The new Harrison Park that will soon grace the east bank of the Olentangy River just north of Downtown is the latest piece of a plan to complete the Harrison West neighborhood.

The transformation has been years in the making, turning a once-downtrodden area into a trendy neighborhood of renovated, colorful frame houses and immaculate gardens dotting its brick side streets.

The parkland is a perfect example.

"That site was a blighted industrial area that was pulling down the entire area of the neighborhood," said Jacob Sukosd, a Harrison West resident. "No one wanted to live next to an old factory."

Work began last week on the 4.3-acre park between Quality Place and W. 2nd Avenue. It will include a playground, a gazebo with a copper roof, a new lane for the Olentangy Trail and sculptures designed by Columbus College of Art & Design students.

Residents gathered this summer to clean up the riverbank and will do so again on Saturday.

The park will cost a little more than $1 million, paid for with property taxes in the district.

Residents persuaded Wagenbrenner Development to donate the parkland when the company began building 62 brick houses and 138 condominiums, adding hundreds of people to a site where a margarine factory once sat.

It's quite a difference from the Harrison West that Mary Funk once knew. She bought her Pennsylvania Avenue house almost 30 years ago when the neighborhood was plagued by gang violence.

She said the house cost $8,000. The 130-year-old duplex now is valued at $104,200.

"When we moved in, they were shooting out streetlights," said Funk, who works for Mayor Michael B. Coleman.

The neighborhood has become desirable enough that in April photographer Lauryn Byrdy immediately snapped up space at 3rd and Michigan avenues that once housed a yoga studio.

"I wanted to come to Harrison West," said Byrdy, 27, who shares the space with a hair salon, wardrobe consultant and makeup artist.

"It's very neighborhood-oriented. Moms are walking their babies and dogs by every day," Byrdy said.

A number of young professionals are making their homes there as well.

That includes Sukosd, who moved to Pennsylvania Avenue six years ago from the Brewery District.

Sukosd, 30, who works at Worthington Industries, grew up in a small town in Harrison County in eastern Ohio. He and his wife, Julie, wanted an affordable house, "something historic, architecturally significant," he said.

Harrison West fit the bill.

"We thought it was improving greatly. It had a lot of room to go, but we thought it had even more potential," Sukosd said.

The location is one reason Matt Williams, a Harrison West Society member, and his partner moved from Clintonville to one of the new Harrison Park houses.

"We thought it was a better area for us," Williams said, citing the short distance to the Short North and Grandview Heights.

Harrison West Society President Rob Harris calls his neighborhood "the backyard of the Short North."

With Ohio State University just to the north, Lynn Varney's Harrison House Bed & Breakfast on W. 5th Avenue attracts a good number of visitors.

She has owned it for four years and said she caters to Harrison West residents seeking to put up guests as well as visiting speakers and interviewees at Ohio State and out-of-towners heading to the nearby Short North.

Varney said she has no concerns about her patrons wandering the neighborhood.

"I tell people it's safe to walk to and from the Short North area," Varney said.

Professionals often are found drinking coffee or eating outdoors streetside at places such as Caffe Apropos on W. 3rd Avenue and Katalina's Cafe Corner nearby.

Katalina's owner Kathleen Day said the walkable neighborhood appeals to transplants from New York or the West Coast. Day herself likes that, too.

She's a German Village resident who sees Harrison West as an affordable alternative.

Harrison West leaders want city officials to recognize Harrison West as a destination neighborhood, such as German Village, Day said. "They're so passionate about their community."

Ohio State graduation-open rooms

2010-05-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

Summer is fast approaching and the weather in Columbus is gorgeous! We still have 2 rooms available for Ohio State graduation weekend..June 12, 13, 14, 2010. Would love to fill the house with graduate family. Please call or reserve online...614-421-2202...http://harrisonhouse-columbus.com/reservations.htm

Tails Up Fishing

2009-12-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.tailsupfishing.com/

2009-12-17T09:45:00.001-08:00

Harrison House gift certificates are wonderful presents (any time of year) On sale now, please call to purchase a gift certificate and we will send on next business day. 614-421-2202 or 800-827-4203

Snowville Creamery

2009-12-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.snowvillecreamery.com/

Harrison House uses Snowville Creamery milk

2009-12-15T05:09:00.000-08:00

FACEBOOK

2009-02-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

We are (I am) finally on Facebook, so if you are a member, please be a friend to Harrison House too! I am listed under Lynn Bischoff Varney. Hope to see some of you as my new Facebook friends.

TWITTER

2009-01-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

Just joined Twitter http://twitter.com
Don't have a clue how to use it! but I think the possibilities for networking are tremendous. My link: http://twitter.com/harrisonhousebb

2008-12-26T07:15:00.000-08:00

Millions of travelers share their opinions on TripAdvisor and Harrison House Bed and Breakfast has been recognized as a recommended hotel.

Harrison House Bed and Breakfast

Best of Columbus 2008

2008-12-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Harrison House Bed & Breakfast Receives 2008 Best of Columbus Award

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., December 9, 2008 -- Harrison House Bed & Breakfast has been selected for the 2008 Best of Columbus Award in the Bed & Breakfast & Inns category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Local Business Association

Cousins Weekend

2008-12-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

Harrison House was the festive destination for a wonderful gathering for guests getting together for their annual Cousins Weekend.

The evening started with a gathering in the living room, with appetizers and cocktails.

The cousins then enjoyed a gourmet dinner in the dining room.

Mother nature supplied a dusting of snow to finish off a perfect evening.

GIFT CERTIFICATES

2008-12-02T06:32:00.000-08:00

Harrison House offers gift certificates year round. Please call for details and purchase information. You can stop in to purchase for we will take your order over the phone and mail the certificate.

614-421-2202
800-827-4203

Massage Therapist

2008-11-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

Cynthia will come with her table to Harrison House for your massage.

Your Columbus Massage Therapist
On Site Chair Massage • Swedish Massage • Deep Tissue

Visit her website for more information and check out the coupon offer.

http://www.kneadsoncall.net

Laura's Loft

2008-11-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Great Find! A good friend of mine has expanded her business and sells name brand clothing at rock bottom prices. Worth a look!

http://laurasloft-pickerington.com/aboutus.htm

Laura's Loft derived from Mybargains2u my Ebay store. I started selling on ebay 4 years ago from my home. It was then in April of 2008 that I launched Laura’s Loft. I decided it was time to offer all of my great deals and resources to Pickerington and surrounding areas!

Laura’s Loft has many brand names from many upscale department stores. I also have made contacts with many catalog companies. So famous I am not allowed to say their names! Many items sold in my store are first quality designer labels. Most stores and catalogs need to make room for newer merchandise. Thus creating a market with what they call closeouts, markdowns, overstocks and surplus.
Laura’s Loft sells items for just about everyone including Men, Women, Plus size, Juniors, and infants – kids for apparel. I also sell shoes, bedding and accessories. Inventory can change weekly to monthly. You never know what you might find next!
Laura’s Loft is open Friday through Sunday. We like to call it Weekend Warehouse sales. This is so we can receive our inventory and stock it through the week therefore able to markdown prices 50-80% off retail!
One thing is true when shopping at Laura’s Loft you will always be greeted with a smile and prices so low you will SHOP TIL YOU DROP!

Cookies!

2008-10-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

The much awaited cookie pictures! From top to bottom...

Chocolate Shortbread Triangles with White Chocolate
Lemon Poppyseed Crisps
Raspberry Almond Blondies
Chocolate Cherry Chunk

In the Kitchen with Lynn and Cara!

2008-10-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the September 2008 blackout, guests Todd and Shane returned to the Harrison House for an extended stay, which was a much welcomed delight! Of course, they gave us the wonderful gift of Martha Stewart's Cookie Cookbook, thankfully we did not lose power at the Harrison House so we took to the oven to bake wonderful treats for everyone to enjoy. Here are some samplings of what comes out of this magical kitchen in Victorian Village! Pictures to follow shortly...

Fall Updates

2008-10-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

The back garden is progressing well. I have many new plants, mostly donated from friend's gardens and we are getting ready to plant spring bulbs. We should have a good spring and summer of blooms in 2009. Also hoping for a small crop of blueberries and peaches.
Our compost bin is processing nicely, with the addition of daily kitchen scraps and some yard waste, we have been able to use beautiful compost for planting our new vegetation. Working on the design for some rain barrels so we can use nature's water in the gardens.
What a difference recycling makes! I used to take a bag of trash to the alley can every day, this has been reduced to 1 bag a week now. I make a trip to the recycling bins in Goodale Park 2 times a week.
I'm saving time and money by using natural cleaning products, basic vinegar and baking soda do the trick on cleaning 7 bathrooms. A touch of borax helps with sanitizing.
Next post will be about our baking efforts and venture into canning and bread making.

Going Green

2008-04-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Harrison House is getting GREEN (slowly)

Most of the light bulbs in the house (& there are a lot!) have been replaced with energy efficient bulbs. Water displacement bags are in all 7 toilet tanks and sinks faucets have water saver washers.

We recycle all items possible and have installed individual recycling containers in the guest rooms. With the onset of spring, I have started a new compost pile in the back garden. Not having the time nor expertise to build a bin and not interested in purchasing a commercial one, I am "re-using" the dog's playpen cage from when they were babies. Roxy and Dante sniff around the bin and I would like to think that they are having fond memories of babyhood, but I'm sure they're just interested in the kitchen scraps! My new compost will be used to fertilize the peach trees and blueberry bushes. We'll have fresh from the garden fruits this summer! Strawberries are next when I can find a sunny spot in my shady back garden.

I'm also working on making my own cleaning products from natural ingredients, no more aerosols! And investigating natural soaps and amenities for the baths.

Test Kitchen

2007-11-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

Baking muffins and cookies today. Always testing and adapting new recipes. Today we have blueberry muffins and chocolate almond bars. The muffins are a Harrison House favorite and always a delight at breakfast. Still working on perfecting the bar cookies....Whipping up a batch of Harrison House Granola this afternoon, our crunchy treat added to fresh fruit.

2007-11-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Lynn:
I hope that everything is going well at the beautiful Harrison House in Columbus Ohio and Hope to visit sometime in the future.

Thank you,
Adam Strickland