Tuesday, August 27, 2024 Road Trip: Olcott Hall AKA Merryweather Inn

While going through my mother’s things after her death, I came across a beautifully intricate pencil drawing of Olcott Hall in Duluth. Olcott Hall was the music conservatory of the Duluth’s State Teacher’s College (now UMD) when my parents were there. It was donated to the college in 1941, having been the private home of the Olcott family originally.

I spent some time admiring the drawing and saw that my mom had written on the back that the artist, Nan Yager, had been an acquaintance of hers since junior high band – a flutist, I believe. I put my digital servants to work finding out more about the artist and learned her married name, where she was living when she died, the names of her two adult children and where they were living. Wouldn’t the old-fashioned gumshoes have loved the internet? I suppose our current day detectives make much use of it.

I contemplated trying to contact one or the other of the artist’s children to offer the drawing to them. Located with the drawing among my mother’s things, however, was a small pamphlet for Olcott Hall B&B. Had my parents stayed there for the sake of nostalgia? Or had they just visited it while in Duluth and kept the pamphlet as a remembrance of their old college stomping grounds? There are always more questions you want to ask after someone has died…

It made more sense to me to offer it up to the B&B, thinking it would have value on display there, so I flexed my fingers and did some more research – tickety tappety went the keyboard keys. Voila! Olcott Hall had changed hands again and was now Merryweather Inn, owned and managed by Beth. Now we were getting somewhere! I called the Inn and spoke with Beth, giving her way more information than she needed (one of my distinguishing characteristics, I’m afraid). When she found out that I was offering the drawing to her for display purposes, she was quite enthusiastic. I told her I’d like to deliver it in person with any siblings I could round up to come with me.

It took a couple months, but my two sisters, Sarah and Charlotte, and I were able to find a date that worked for all three of us. Sarah and I mercilessly browbeat Charlotte into doing the driving, to which she replied #youngestchildhazing. Ha ha! On our way up, I told her quite confidently to take 35E instead of 35W. Naturally, 35E was closed for a stretch of 10 miles or so and we had to reroute to 35W anyway (over the strenuous complaints of her GPS system, I might add). All part of the fun, right?

What with one thing and another we arrived at Merryweather Inn, connected with Beth, and she very generously gave us a detailed tour of the inn, at least in the rooms where she didn’t currently have guests. She bought the place in 2019 and somehow weathered the shutdowns of 2020, spending much of that time doing some renovation work (most of it herself!). She showed us the little alcove where she would display the artwork, a place where she already had a few old framed photos of Mr. and Mrs. Olcott and other early photos of the house.

I had found an old photo of my mother in front of Olcott Hall in 1949 and offered up an enlarged photocopy of that as well, which she was happy to take.

As we went through the rooms, up and down the stairs and down into what used to be the musician’s practice room in the basement, I couldn’t help but imagine my mom and dad there – it was where they originally met. Mom used to tell us that she came across Dad playing the piano and dancing with his feet while playing, which favorably impressed her. I could almost hear the echo of the music playing, the young voices laughing as they clattered up and down the stairs, music being rehearsed in various rooms throughout the hall. Oh, how I wished I had thought to ask both Mom and Dad more about their experience there.

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There was an old schematic of the college on the wall that Beth found rolled up in the attic when she moved in, along with an old blueprint. She framed both and had them on display.

Beth had created a fun speakeasy down the basement, using an old library card catalog for storing bottles of wine. What a fun way to use the space!

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At the end of our tour, Beth offered to take a photo of the three of us in front of the hall and of course, we also had to get a selfie of all four of us before we left.

What a fun day! And I loved being able to take a road trip with my sisters, something that I don’t remember ever doing before. Mom would have been so happy to know what happened as a result of her saving that drawing.

If you go to the Merryweather Inn (recommend!!!), think of Richard and Mary, young musicians in love, roaming the halls back in the day.

I’ll probably take this post to the speakeasy to delete it in the morning.