You’d be surprised what people bring to us when they walk through that door.

Not luggage. Not really.

They bring the whole reason they came — a wedding day, a family that hasn’t been together in years, a milestone they’ve been waiting on. And somehow, we get to be the ones holding it with them.

That’s the part of this work I never get tired of.

Not long ago, our granddaughters came to stay with a friend, and we kept the whole house just for them. Watching them run through these rooms, make their own memories on the same porch where so many other people’s biggest days happen too — that’s not something I take for granted.

This house is for your family the same way it’s for ours.

 

Then this summer, we got to hold space for a micro wedding. Small, quiet, exactly right. There’s a moment right before a wedding starts where you can feel how much it matters to the people standing there. Being trusted with that — even in a small way — still catches me every time.

We also had a couple come back to us for their honeymoon — they’d stayed with us before, and chose to spend five whole days here, taking their time through the Laurel Highlands. Five days is enough to actually settle in, to not rush any of it. That’s exactly what we hope people find here.

And the rest of the year is already lining up to be more of the same.

We’ve got a wedding of fifty guests coming — charcuterie, a guitar duo playing into the evening, two people saying yes in front of everyone who loves them. A family of sixteen is booked to take over the whole house, which might be the truest version of what we built this place for.

Anniversaries. Birthdays. Retirements. Reunions.

This is the part of Hartzell House I love telling people about, because it’s never really about the house. It’s about what people bring here.

Last year, we opened this house to groups and to holidays — whole-house rentals, family takeovers, gatherings too big for a normal weekend. This year, we’re doing it again. If you’ve got a group that needs a place, or a holiday you’d rather spend together than in the kitchen, that’s exactly what we built this for.

Or maybe you’ve got some magic of your own you want to share. Hartzell House holds that well too — it works as a retreat venue, a workshop setting, anywhere ideas and hands-on work need room to breathe.

That’s part of why my own retreat, Opening To Feel lives here in November — space to move through what people are carrying, together. And it’s why

Stitch & Stay works too, an afternoon of crochet by the fire in March. There’s something about working stitch after stitch that settles a person down without them even trying — nothing forced, nothing to finish by a deadline, just quiet work and other people around you doing the same thing.

If you teach something, lead something, or want to bring a group together around a craft or a practice of your own — this house holds that well too.

That’s what our personal service really means. Your event goes exactly how you want it, because we want what you want — connection, and ease. Not a checklist we’re running through, but two people paying attention to what your day actually needs.

There’s more coming too, if you’re the kind of person who likes to plan ahead.

Addison’s throwing a  festival at the park at the end of September — food trucks, a band, chainsaw carvers turning logs into art. Robert and I are part of putting it together through the Addison Community Development Committee.

Thanksgiving, we’re cooking again — a homemade, abundant

Thanksgiving dinner, so you can skip the mayhem of holiday cooking and just be at the table with the people you love.

December brings Wreath & Remembrance — wreath-making and an Italian dinner, right alongside Addison’s Christmas in the Village.

And already, next year is taking shape — that crochet day by the fire we’re calling Stitch & Stay, and Valentine’s Day, a quiet reprieve after a season of busy days.

Whatever you’re celebrating, whatever you’re letting go of, or however you’re just needing to slow down for a minute —

there’s a version of this house that’s for you.

We’d be honored to hold it with you.

If any of this sounds like your people, your holiday, or your next getaway — reach out, and let’s talk about a date