06/29/2025
My Grandaughter wrote this for the Inn:
I didn’t realize how many lasts I’d quietly lived through today —
the last time brushing my fingers across the stair railing,
the last creak of the hallway floorboards,
the last night beneath this roof I once called mine.
And as I stood still in the quiet,
memories I thought were long gone came rushing back —
not like ghosts,
but like old friends.
Flickers of laughter, warmth, little moments stitched into the very walls.
I was only four or five, barely able to talk,
but I’d greet each visitor with a proud,
“Welcome, guests!”
And I meant it —
because even then,
I knew this place wasn’t ordinary.
The Northwood Inn at 401 Wesley Avenue —
it wasn’t just a bed and breakfast.
It was love with a front porch.
A sanctuary with warm coffee in the morning
and clean sheets that smelled like home.
It was where I learned to grow,
to help, to care, to belong.
And now, to hear that no more guests will be arriving,
that it’s going up for sale —
it feels like watching a chapter close
while I’m still inside the story.
But one day, maybe,
when I’m older and driving past with someone I love,
I’ll point out the old house on Wesley and say,
“That’s where I felt safe. That’s where I learned what home really means.”
This isn’t just goodbye.
This is a final goodnight —
to every morning sunbeam that filtered through those windows,
to every dish I helped set down,
to every soul that ever stepped inside and felt at peace.
Northwood Inn, you were never just a place.
You were a part of me.
And wherever life takes me next —
I’ll carry you with me.
Always.
- Madelyne Kolb
