Rooms with a view

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Oct 17, 2004 | by Parlin, Geri

MARQUETTE, Iowa - When it came time to retire, Roger and Connie Halvorson knew they weren't going to be content just fishing and playing cards and walking down to the local cafe for a coffee and Danish.

Busy all their lives, they knew they wanted to be busy in retirement, too. So they built themselves a business that can grow old with them - Eagles Landing Bed & Breakfast and Winery.

Located on the banks of the Mississippi River, Marquette has everything the Halvorsons were looking for - a beautiful view, a friendly community, and a great location for a winery and bed and breakfast.

They bought the land at 82 North St. in 1993. At the time, there was a fish market on the property, and they figured they could expand on it. When a flood nearly swept it away a month later, the Halvorsons decided to start from scratch.

First came the bed and breakfast, as that also was to be their home.

"We thought a B&B would be fun," Connie said, and she was right. It turns out that bed and breakfast guests have provided the Halvorsons with their social life in their retirement years.

"We live right in the middle of it," said Connie, who is in charge of the kitchen for both the guests and for themselves. She and Roger have a bedroom in a loft in the middle of the house and use the living space on the main floor that the guests also use.

"It just really is so much fun," Connie said.

Roger agrees, even when he is making beds. And when he's not making beds, he's likely over in the shop running the winery "I'm usually the winemaker and sometimes the bedmaker," he said, as he carried off an armful of linens.

"In 2000, we put up the wine shop," Connie said. "We planted a vineyard in 1999. It kept growing, and we outgrew the wine shop so we bought a house down the street. The wine is so good we just keep selling it."

The vineyard is 45 minutes south of Marquette on Connie's parents' home farm in Fayette County. "We're also working with a group of tobacco growers near Viroqua, converting some of the land to grapes."

Helping them run the winery is their son, Jay, who lives above the wine shop. There also are two more rooms the Halvorsons can rent out above the winery.

Because this is their retirement home, the Halvorsons wanted to take a hands-on approach to the building of their timber-frame home.

"Connie and I handled every piece of wood," Roger said

The lumber is local and was milled by a local sawmill. And there isn't a nail to be found in the place. Everything is put together with wood pegs. With the leftover wood, Roger built the home's beds.

The stairs are reclaimed wood from a 100-year-old barn a man was trying to dispose of. "My dad said, 'Throw it off here,"' Roger said, and they cleaned up the wood and made the stairs out of it.

Though they've been busy building their business, the Halvorsons haven't been too busy to enjoy the place they chose for their retirement.

"It is so friendly here," Connie said. "We just love it, and you can walk anywhere."