Tricia and Greg Harvey act as concierges to the whole county.
That is how Greg Harvey described one of their many roles at the Joshua Inn Bed & Breakfast at 712 West St. overlooking Dunne Park.
“We put them in our favorite restaurants,” he said from the home earlier this month. “We promote everybody. It’s one big community. We help people make decisions about setting up a day trip, or if they want to go to the Pinnacles, or where to eat.”
The couple runs the bed and breakfast from a 1902 Queen Victorian home – it’s 2,800 square feet – with five themed bedrooms and a home stocked with antiques and old-timey trinkets. With a lack of lodging in the area – along with business from attractions such as Pinnacles National Park, regular events like the bluegrass festival or wedding visits – Joshua Inn has been bustling in its second year of operation.
“We’re pretty much full every weekend,” he said. “We might have a room or two here and there.”
Aside from lacking competition, the bed and breakfast model targets a niche market preferring a more personal, elegant touch to their time away from home. And while the walls and tables are lined with antiques, Tricia Harvey said she gets most of the home’s items from garage sales, estate sales or thrift stores.
“You don’t feel like you have to walk on egg shells,” she said while touring the home alongside their shih tzu dog, Sugarbear. “You want people to be able to relax.”
Some examples of the items in the home are model ships, a red rotary phone, branded tin boxes, old alarm clocks and side-by-side framed pictures showing the home in the early 20th century and then in the 1980s.
Adding a fancy touch to the outside – they are particularly fond of the raised patio and back porch as well – the Harveys put in a gazebo at a corner of the lot surrounded by a white picket fence.
They are proud of the home’s history and promote such facts as J.G Hamilton being the first owner. He apparently owned Hollister’s first harness shop, said the Harveys, who live from the home themselves and are in the process of building an out-building for their separate quarters.
They have family roots present as well. The Harveys named the business after their son, Joshua, who passed away in 2008 in Beaufort, S.C. at the Paris Island Marine Corps Base.
“”It’s a tribute to him,” Tricia Harvey said.
Other family ties are noticeable throughout the home as well. There’s the Savannah Beach Room named after the city in Georgia where Greg Harvey was born – she’s originally from San Diego – or the Captain’s Quarters room named because her father was in the Navy.
They hope they can carry those themes forward as they attempt to grow their business primarily by helping the area become a more enticing attraction altogether. That is a reason why Greg Harvey has been closely involved with recent talks to broaden tourism marketing efforts in the county. He is head of the tourism committee for the chamber and helped to push for the city’s commitment of using current hotel tax money on those efforts.
They clearly see a need for more marketing of the area, just as they saw a need for a boutique bed and breakfast through their own experiences as consumers – because they like to stay at bed and breakfast establishments when they travel.
“When go to anyplace – where can we stay where we build a memory?” he said.
He said they want customers to enjoy the restaurants, wineries and other attractions in the area.
“We want you to go, ‘Wow that was great,’” he said. “It’s the kind of thing where five years from now you’re still talking about that weekend.”
MORE DETAILS
Here are more tidbits about Joshua Inn Bed & Breakfast:
– The couple’s goal is to eventually have a bathroom in every bedroom. Some are currently shared.
– Joshua Inn offers a licensed masseuse who will do massages in the home.
– They get a lot of visitors coming for weddings, with women as the target market.
– Sharlene Van Rooy linked them with an historic walking tour of the neighborhood homes.
– A lot of their business comes from AirBNB.com, with TripAdvisor also bringing customers.
– There’s a candy bar stocked with goods.
– They have a ground-level basement where they occasionally hang out.
– While the home has a dog to give visitors their pet fix, the bed and breakfast is not pet friendly for visiting cats and dogs.
– The price range is $110 – $210 with discounts available.
