LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
MILTON'S Daughters |
by Shelley Blue Grabel |
Jeanie Greenaugh opens Lavinia House
Two short stone pillars topped with imperfect spheres quietly announce the entrance to the organic driveway. The house reveals itself slowly through spruce and pine trees, with the entrance tucked away in the rear. I park my car out of sight on the far end of the property and approach the house, tracing the boxwood path back to the glass pane front door. This is the entrance to Lavinia House, a Bed and Breakfast and Holistic Health and Arts Center emerging and evolving in Milton, Delaware. Its mature gardens overlook a tiny dock on Wagamons Pond. Jeanie Greenaugh, the gracious owner, stands just outside the door watering her herbs and vegetables. The moist heat of the day emphasizes the exotic scents of Thai basil and lemon grass. Everywhere you look there are magnolia and spruce, sycamore and cherry, apple and peach trees. The fig is about to fruit and the hummingbirds suck nectar from the tumult of purple crepe myrtle blooms. Jeanie invites me into the light-filled home and begins her story. It all started about two and a half years ago when she first saw the neglected house and overgrown lawns. Unfortunately, her life was too crowded with restoring a Civil- War-era home in Lewes to add the purchase of another property just then. A year later, Jeannie returned to Milton and amazingly, the house was still available. Well, maybe it's not all that amazing since snakes inhabited the flooded basement and the roof was in complete disrepair. Jeanie, however, saw the possibilities and took the plunge. As soon as she bought the place people seemed to emerge from nowhere to help with restoring the nearly 80-year-old housea project that took a year to complete. The basement was drained and dried, the roof replaced, the walls spackled and painted, and gentle lighting installed. Everyone who worked on it seemed to fall in love with the space. In fact, one of the guys helping out did not want to leave when the work was done. He still shows up once a week to do odd jobs and retain his connection. In December of 2001, Lavinia House was ready for anything. It was dressed up and placed on Milton's Christmas house tour, which is quite an honor in this town of beautiful old Victorians. Last May, Jeanie held an open house to introduce the community to the types of services she would be providing. There was music in the gardens, a Nassau Vineyards wine tasting, a luscious buffet, and an exhibit of Jeanie's photographs displayed in the open spaces of the downstairs rooms. Since the opening, she has offered sessions with an amazing Thai masseuse named Meow, a feng shui workshop, and weekly yoga classes. "Everyone asks what are my short and long term plans for the house. Do I really need them?" she asks with an impish smile. "I have just completed getting approved by the Fire Marshall for events with up to 50 to 75 people." That opens up the possibilities to larger retreats, social events, and small conferences. For instance, Jeannie is going to have a weekend writing workshop, a two-day yoga retreat, feng shui classes, acupuncture workshops, and other wellness related activities. She wants the community to participate and is willing to partner with anyone who has an idea for creative use of the space. In addition to being a proprietor of Lavinia House and restorer of beautiful old homes, Jeanie is at heart and by trade a photographer. A few years ago, she traveled up and down the east coast photographing swamps. She was most attracted by the quality of light in the morning, the silence of the insects, the trees drawn against the early morning fog, the grasses, and the stillness of the water. "I feel very connected to trees and love to photograph them," Jeanie says in her very quiet voice. She recently ventured to Vietnam and captured images of the people and the landscape. That work is currently on display throughout the house. She worked with the images to heighten the light or reverse it, increasing and decreasing the alien quality of the places to which she has traveled. "I want to have many art exhibits here...and to help other artists. We can all help each other." Art and wellness, community, and some occasional Thai dinners are all shaping the future of Lavinia House. And finally she says, "I don't know why I was chosen to do this. I feel like I am the luckiest person on earth....as if I were plucked from the skies to be the Land Keeper." It's as if she were entrusted with the space to open and use and share with the community rather than being a business owner. And she's now another one of Milton's Daughters. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 12, No. 12, August 23, 2002. |