Old rectory is bed and breakfast

By The Standard Staff - 12/10/2005

ANACONDA — Mary Jane Rayfield and George Nixon, owners of Hickory House Bed and Breakfast at 218 East Park, are also hosting the tour. Although most Anacondans pass by the historic French Colonial each day, few have had a chance to peek inside, or learn more about its past.

Rayfield and Nixon say they want to share the building and its charm.

"I think it's a piece of Anaconda's history, and people should be able to see it," Rayfield said Friday. The couple participated in last year's tour.

The former rectory for St. Paul's Church, built in 1902, is decorated inside and out with old-fashioned ornaments and baubles.

The structure features 11-foot ceilings, ornate woodwork, staircases and four fireplaces with tiger oak mantles and brass and copper inserts, one of those in the library. Double doors with etched glass panels that lead into the morning room were imported from France by Rayfield.

A 450-square-foot attic, illuminated by skylights, tops off the two-story building.

When the church next door to the rectory was torn down in 1982, the building sat vacant for three years. It was purchased next by Blanche Proul, who used it as her home and an art gallery.

Rayfield and Nixon bought the rectory from Proul in 2004 and turned it into a bed and breakfast.

The couple spent the past year or so renovating the property, and adding pizzazz, Rayfield said. "Being a rectory, it was pretty plain," she explained. "I tried to find furniture that would fit that time frame."

One of the biggest surprises on the property was the discovery of a fountain buried in the front yard. Nixon unearthed and restored the rockery, which was filled in with stones and dirt.