Your hosts, Richard and Sue Schmidt, have been Alaskans since the early 1970’s. Richard first came to Alaska in 1966 on a family vacation and knew right then Alaska was where he had to spend the rest of his life. Upon graduating from high school, he moved to Valdez and then to Cordova in 1972. Working in the canneries and then as a commercial salmon fisherman in Prince Wm. Sound. In 1974 he moved to an abandoned mining town in the sound, called Ellamar, to live the Alaskan bush life. He met his future bride there and in 1979 with a 3 year old son and a 1 year old daughter, they moved to Seward, bought some land and built a small cabin to raise their children in. They’ve been in Seward ever since and wouldn’t think of living anywhere else. Work on the B&B began in 1985 as the future family home. One board and a dollar at a time. A slow way to go. Life happens and before we knew it the kids were grown and gone and we still hadn’t finished the new house. Not needing all that room anymore and being quite comfortable in our little cabin we decided to turn the project into a unique one-of-a-kind Alaskan Bed and Breakfast. With
financial help from our loving family and a lot of help from our friends (Richard’s best friend, Paul Paquette, did all the fantastic shingle work on the exterior) the B&B opened for guests in June of 2005.
We are very proud to own a part of Alaska’s history and culture, our Sourdough start. Our sourdough first came to Alaska in 1905 when the J.P. Morgan company came to Cordova to build the railroad into the Kennicott copper mine at McCarthy. The company cook, Beauregard, brought his sourdough start with him from San Francisco. As was the custom, he shared his start with many miners and trappers heading into the interior. He also gave it to a young couple starting a small cafe. The Pioneer Cafe served hot sourdough pancakes and bread everyday until the 1980’s when the owners died and the doors closed forever. A good friend of ours was the cook at the time of closing and she got the sourdough start, named it “Beauregard” ,and gave it to us and many others. We’re sure you will enjoy tryingthis unique taste of Alaska’s history.
