Greetings from Cedarburg!

 

On September 14th The Washington House Inn will celebrate its 25th year of operation. The time has gone by in the blink of an eye.  It is hard to believe that a quarter of a century has passed since the two Kevin's  (Kevin Pape--Pape  Building Company, and Kevin Porterfield--Porterfield  Building Company) hammered out the thoughtful plans of Jim and Sandy Pape to put this wonderful old building back to work for the purpose it was intended.  The hotel had ceased to exist in the early 1920s; the space had been used for retail, apartments, offices, even an auto supply store! 
 
We opened with 15 elegant Victorian rooms on three floors in the original hotel in 1984; in 1986 a walkway was added at the second floor to adjoin with the building to the north, and five more rooms in our country section opened on New Year's Eve of that year.  Three years and a tremendous amount of effort later in 1989 a common wall between the 2nd and 3rd building was opened up and now is home to our larger country suites.   Just as the dust had finally settled in 1994 the Schroeder family homestead (four doors to the north of our now-adjoined 3 Cream City brick buildings) became available for purchase.  Five additional rooms were built and opened to bring the total number of guest rooms to 34.
 
I encourage you to visit our website and look at each individual guest room; each one is as unique as are the thousands of guests who have crossed their thresholds.  We thank you for your patronage, your loyalty, your wonderful word-of-mouth and your written reviews.  We thank you for your stories, and your friendship.  It has been our staff's pleasure to serve you.  As many of you know some of the original staff remains, and most of "the new kids" have been here 10 years or more. We are blessed with pride in "ownership" that few enjoy. We think  it shows!
 
In celebration, we are pleased to offer you a 25th Anniversary Special.  Please come visit and take advantage of a 25% discount on any of our guest rooms, any weeknight (Sunday through Thursday) throughout the entire month of September.  Perhaps the following list of upcoming events will entice you!

Corn stalks, mums, scarecrows, pumpkins and wine....that spells Wine & Harvest Festival in Cedarburg!  In it's 37th year, this annual event is a sweet, end-of-summer tradition offering the abundance of Wisconsin's homegrown produce and artisan food products.  The many festival food booths will offer speciality seasonal items like caramel apples, kettle corn, apple cider, as well as the good old standbys like brats, burgers and grilled sandwiches.  Live music flows all over town including Top Forty, Bluegrass, Folk and Rock & Roll.  Of course, treasures galore are just waiting to be discovered at the Arts on the Avenue with more than 200 juried booths throughout all of downtown Cedarburg.  The Great Pumpkin Charity Regatta is back by popular demand; this first-time 2008 event was a YouTube favorite with gigantic, hollowed-out, floatable pumpkins racing across Cedar Creek.  This is definitely a must-see event!  Prepare yourself for some fun, laughter and a great time.  www.cedarburgfestivals.org

 

If you've noticed the new organic soap in the Inn's lobby gift shop, you might be interested in knowing that our very own Innkeeper, Brenda, is the soapmaker behind the label. Visit the The Conscious Bath Company's booth at Wine & Harvest Festival and say hello to Brenda and family.  Their tent will be located on the lawn of the Community Center; look for the purple and green Bali Flags.

 

See you soon!

Sincerely,