The City of Glenwood Springs was incorporated and plotted in 1885. (The founder of the new town, Isaac Cooper, named the town in honor of his wife Sarah who came from Glenwood, Iowa.) The first known facts on the property of the B&B go back to this time, when the city planners staked out lots of 25 feet wide and 100 long. This was done during the surge of a real estate boom in Glenwood Springs. This boom was created by the anticipated arrival of two railroads: The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and the Colorado Midland Railway.

The owners at the time, Geo A. Rice (lots 1 and 2) and Jos Enzensperger (lot 3) had log huts, tents, dugouts and shacks on the lots. They were the real pioneers of Glenwood. George Arthur Rice opened the first bank in Glenwood Springs in 1885. He served in that year also as the first town treasurer for the city. Joseph Enzensperger was partner with Glenwood Springs founder Isaac Cooper and William Gelder in building the Hotel Glenwood. The Hotel Glenwood later became famously known as the place of death of John Henry "Doc" Holliday on November 8, 1887. As Enzensperger was the owner of the property at 8th and Palmer at the time of Doc Holliday's death, it stands to reason that he may have buried Doc on his property to prevent the western gangs from stealing Doc's body. In 1888, Enzensperger was elected to the office of Town Trustee of Glenwood.

The real estate boom, and therewith the land speculation, did not end with the arrival of both train lines in Glenwood Springs in 1887. The joys and pleasures of the Hot Springs were to be exploited by rich and poor, silver kings and miners, it brought President Benjamin Harrison to Glenwood and …. Hotel Colorado, which established later in 1893, was constructed. In 1892 the lots were combined under the ownership of Geo H. Lawrence, said to be a silver and real estate speculator from Aspen, who bought the property for the fabulous sum of $1500.00.

Who says that speculation pays? In 1901, a deceived Lawrence let go of the property, which came into the hands of Fred Ewing for…. $250.00. Fred, a legendary figure in Glenwood, was the Glenwood Springs' druggist from 1887 to 1911 and known for his "magic" with opium. Fred Ewing cleared the lots of their shacks to lay the foundation of the Lavender and Thyme B&B home. Records of the Assessors Office of the City of Glenwood Springs indicate the house was built in 1903.

In 1908 the property was acquired by August L. Chase, a Glenwood real estate agent, operating A.L. Chase and Co. The property might have been in company hands, though, as Charles Darrow and his wife Elizabeth are also mentioned as owners. Charles Darrow, a prominent Glenwood Springs attorney, is also known as the developer of the original Fairy Caves, which opened in 1894. In 1910 he was partner with A.L. Chase in the A.L. Chase and Company real estate agency.

Phoebe Demaris Gibson, mentioned to own the property in 1909,was the wife of John Gibson, a building contractor. The Gibson's appear in the 1900 Federal Census living on Palmer Avenue in Glenwood Springs. They were natives from West Virginia and had six living children: Edward, William, Violet, Rose, Lillie and Fern. Residing with the Gibson's were two carpenters, J.W. Campbell and Walter Olaud. By 1910, the family was residing at 608 Eight Street (two houses west of the present B&B) and carpenter Joseph H. Campbell still resided with the family. In 1910 John W. Gibson listed his occupation as "carpenter - house builder", as did his son Edward (now married with one son) and Joseph Campbell.

Maps from the archives of the Frontier Historic Museum, dated back to 1912, are the first plans to show the house with its wraparound porch. These maps, which were actually fire department drawings, also served insurance purposes and are known as the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. These maps, plus the fact that there are no earlier signs of existence of the house, lead to believe that the house might have been built, but at least was finished by the Gibsons and Mr. Campbell, who in 1910 becomes half owner of the property. Given that in 1910 the city directory lists nine people living in the Gibson's household, a large new house was probably a welcome improvement.

Arthur W. and Amy Crouch subsequently acquired the property from a foreclosure in 1919. According to the 1919 Glenwood City Directory as well as the 1920 Federal Census for Garfield County, Arther Crouch was a mechanic and machinist. His wife Amy was a housewife. She is named as the owner in 1926 (after the death of Arthur??)

Julia Thome owned the property in 1928. She and her husband Peter owned and operated the "Owl Café" at 708 Grand Avenue, downtown Glenwood Springs. The Owl Cafe building was located where the Grand Mall (Sapphire Grille) is now. The original building has been replaced with what is there now.

William and Beatrice Eastwood acquired the house in 1945. William owned Eastwood Motors, a Dodge and Plymouth automobile dealership. This dealership was originally located at 330 Seventh Street and then moved to 115 Sixth Street. In the late 1960's, Mr. Eastwood was a salesman for Osborn Motors in Glenwood Springs.

Bob and Shirley Chavez became the owners in 1973. Bob Chavez, the former Glenwood Springs High School boy's basketball coach, has been one of the most successful coaches in Colorado basketball history. His 30-year tenure culminated with a first place ranking on the CHSAA list, when he retired in 1989. He led the Demons to three AA state titles in 1975,1979 and 1984, and his 1979 team went undefeated. Chavez's record speaks for itself, but his true legacy, particularly in the Glenwood area, is his influence on children and the Glenwood community as a whole. That is why many in Glenwood Springs know our B&B as the Chavez house.

Pat Means and Carolyn Goller opened the house in 1996 as a Bed and Breakfast, then called "The Lavender Swing". We still maintain and operate the swing, so popular in the old Victorian days, on our large wrap around porch. From there you have a spectacular view on the red mountains with soothing tangerine sunsets. Pat and Carolyn obviously knew the hospitality business by heart, as both were professionally trained registered nurses. Prior to their retirement, devoted to playing golf, Pat was the innkeeper of the B&B, while Carolyn ruled the nursing station of the Garfield County prison.

Carol and Peter Tijm purchased the property in 2002. After lovingly remodeling and decorating it with fine antiques, to even more accentuate its gracious Victorian style, we reopened the Bed and Breakfast in March 2003, this time under the name LAVENDER and THYME Bed & Breakfast.
The LAVENDER in our name reflects the colors of the house and the fragrances of the lovely lavender bushes in the garden. The THYME in our name reflects, apart from more fragrances, the Tijm's family name: THYME is the English translation of the Dutch word, TIJM, for the same herb.

Carol is one of the earliest female geologists in this profession in the USA. Following a 30 year career with Sun Oil, Tenneco, British Gas, and Ampolex, she is still active in her profession and presently owns her own company, PV Enterprises Inc.

Peter, born and raised in the Netherlands, is an economist and professional Chemical Engineer. In a long international career with Shell, he specialized in synthetic fuels manufacture, now applied in the "stranded" Gas to Liquids technology. While running the B&B he wrote a book on his favorite subject, Fischer-Tropsch technology.

Peter and Carol operated the B&B actively from 2003 to 2006. Their many years of international travel have not only given Carol and Peter the fundamentals for various languages, but also the stories, which we willingly share on a long winters night around a crackling fireplace. However, their interest in the oil industry required a “leave of absence”.

In May of 2006, serendipity brought your current innkeeper to the Lavender and Thyme B&B: Michele Wells, an extraordinary woman: Artist, Writer, Shipwreck Diver and Innkeeper, also know as “The Mountain Mermaid”.

Michele, born in New York, moved to Colorado at the age of 17 and is blessed with a unique wanderlust for “exploring and discovering”. This stayed with her throughout life, culminating in her complete immersion when she became a certified Scuba Instructor in 1982. Back then, the ratio of men to women divers was 8 to 1, so she was a mermaid in a man’s sport. The underwater world affected her so profoundly that she “dove head first” into SCUBA diving and did anything and everything to stay underwater! This brought her to the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. She went diving at every chance she got and, in true Keys “Conch republican” fashion, she taught diving, painted murals, collected tropical fish, worked with dolphins, sea turtles, whale strandings and even caught live sharks. For 25 years, she traveled and lived throughout the Caribbean’s most far flung and remote islands –always searching for ‘treasures’ both above and beneath the sea. She even opened and operated her own waterfront B&B for 7 years on an island called Salt Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was there that she realized another talent and a real love for the hospitality business and making people feel at home.

The Caribbean influences, however, brought her back “home” again too. It was only in 2004 that a hurricane Florida’s gulf coast mandated her return to her family’s home base in Colorado Springs. Always having been her ‘port in a storm’, they are the main reason she and husband Paul decided to remain here. Thus, this Mermaid came full circle, returning to the Rockies, to friends and family -sharing salty tales and sea treasures: stories about the salvages from the ATOCHA and Margarita - famous 1622 Spanish Galleon shipwrecks, discovered in 1985, or about treasures, some of the largest caches of smuggled Colombian emeralds from the ATOCHA, and other treasures she’s found above and below the sea. But the greatest treasures she found have been the people she met and has come to know during these adventures. We suppose that’s why she enjoyed being an innkeeper!

Our lovely historic B&B provides plenty of opportunities to swap travel stories, dreams and recipes with our guests. Michele treasured the guests and made us feel so fortunate to have her. However, Michele never lost that lust for shipwrecks and outpost adventures, so by the end of 2007 she moved on. This brought and kept Peter and Carol Tijm again in command for the better part of 2008. Thus consulting, innkeeping and combinations thereof were again on the agenda.

The month of August, 2008 provided new opportunities for our B&B, when Jan Papp announced that she'd be interested to run the Lavender and Thyme B&B. Jan came on-board with not only an extensive experience as world-wide travel agent, as well as traveler, but also B&B experience gathered in another Colorado B&B. She was eager to spread her own wings in the business and make her solo flight. Jan turned out to be the most wonderful innkeeper: friendly, attentive, concious, a quick learner, in summary she has all the other qualities one would like an innkeeper to have. She has run the B&B ever since, to our and our guests' great satisfaction and with an ever increasing number of guests.

Jan is looking forward to your visit here at The Lavender and Thyme Bed & Breakfast soon!

We thank the Frontier Historical Society for their help.