Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 4, 1993 TAG: 9312060194
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKII LENGTH: Long
``I've lived in 15 or so states, some of them several times,'' she said. ``This is my 63rd move - my 63rd and my last.''
Stevenson and her husband, William H. Struhs, have spent the last eight months and a great deal of money renovating the 80-year-old home at 821 N. Jefferson Ave. as The Count Pulaski Bed and Breakfast. And they are still not finished.
``This is a work in progress. It'll probably never be complete,'' Stevenson said. ``But we're going to stop and live a little.''
The four-story brick home has three stairways and three upper guest rooms behind its columns.
The American Room is dominated by a canopied four-poster bed so high that it comes with step-stools on either side. It is decorated in Colonial blue, yellow and copper with a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence on one wall.
Its fireplace uses a gas log, but is so small that Stevenson hunted across the country to find a gas log manufacturer with a product to fit it. She finally found one in California.
The Polish Room has what at first glance appears to be a king-size bed, but it can be separated into twin beds. The hand-decorated wooden pieces around its writing desk each represent a fairy story, and the crested plate by the door represents the royalty of the Polish count for whom Pulaski is named.
Books are scattered throughout the home and, in the Polish Room, James Michener's ``Poland'' dominates the desk.
It was gift to Stevenson when she was a child, and includes the legend of the boy who warned the village of Krakow of the approach of the Tartars by blowing his trumpet from the tower of St. Mary's Church before he was killed by an enemy arrow.
The custom of sounding a trumpet on the hour in the boy's honor continues today. Stevenson recorded it when she visited Krakow a few years ago.
The French Room is actually a suite, with lithographs of Paris scenes she obtained on a trip there. Its two rosewood chair seats are needlepoint, made by her mother.
Although Stevenson, the daughter of an Army general, said she has lost enough furniture for two houses in all her moves since her birth in North Carolina, she has kept enough to give The Count Pulaski the proper atmosphere.\ The 1912 Steinway baby grand piano in the living room, for instance, has been\ with her since she was 12 years old. The top of a large round table by the\ sofa was originally a dining table bought about 1858 by her great grandfather.\ A Vietnamese temple bell on the mantle was a gift from a friend who lived for years in Southeast Asia.
It is customary for guests to ring that bell when they come downstairs in the morning to announce readiness for breakfast, Stevenson said.
There are interesting items sprinkled throughout the building. Stevenson has a match folder collection, mostly from restaurants and hotels she has visited in this country and others, on a wall downstairs. A Byrd Clock, which has been in her family for more than 100 years, sits on a mantle. There is even a T-shirt that she bought from Lech Walesa's Solidarity Union in Poland.
She and her husband had looked at houses in Wytheville and Bedford for their bed and breakfast venture before settling on the one in Pulaski.
It has changed considerably since they bought it in March. Stevenson had it completely rewired (quite a job with its 12-inch brick exterior walls), replaced beams, steps, flooring, roof and gutters, repaired walls, repointed bricks, added ceiling fans and small air-conditioning units, modernized and added bathroom facilities, installed new carpeting and wallpaper.
Although it had its formal ribbon-cutting Nov. 15, it has been accommodating guests since late August.
``We just finished it at 5:30 in the afternoon and the guests came for that room at a quarter of 6,'' she said. There had been so many workmen around until then that ``I felt like we were interlopers in the house.''
Stevenson`s career revolved mainly around higher education. She was dean of women for about 10 years at the University of Tulsa and worked in continuing education at UCLA and George Washington University as well as the Brookings Institution. She worked in human resources with Computer Sciences Corp.
She met Struhs in Washington, D.C., about 30 years ago. They had dated and kept in touch over the years, finally getting together once more when they were both in California. They have been married about 15 years.
About six years ago, Stevenson and other members of her family were trying to decide what to do about the empty family home place in Arkansas which was vacant and being vandalized. Finally she decided she would buy it and move there, ``but what do you do with a 22-room house?''
The idea of a bed and breakfast seemed reasonable. She spent time at some, learned how they operated and was ready to make the purchase.
``Someone else had bought it two weeks before,'' she said. ``But I had gotten interested in the bed and breakfast business in the meantime.''
She managed one for a friend in Rappahannock for almost a year, and has worked at two others since then.
How did she come to put her own in Pulaski? ``It was by sheer chance,'' she said. She and her husband simply traced Interstate 81 on a map looking for a town that was not too big and had mountains around it like those she remembered at her family's summer home.
She had also figured on warmer weather when they moved. ``I found that 300 miles south of Northern Virginia is colder. But that's all right. I love Pulaski. The people here are wonderful,'' she said.
``My neighbors are just incomparable and, bless their hearts, they don't mind having a bed and breakfast in their midst,'' she said. In fact, they spoke at a public hearing on the necessary rezoning for the enterprise.
The house and garden are located in Pulaski's historic district. Double room rates are $75 to $95 plus tax.
by CNB