The Grand Kerr House - What's In A Name

When we first bought the House on the Hill in Grand Rapids, OH,  we struggled with what to call her.      After all, she has always been known as "The Kerr House" and, as any newly married woman will tell you, it's hard to change your name mid-life.  It can result in an identity crisis and a lot of paperwork.

We ran a few names past friends and family, everything from Kermit's Pad to the BobCat Estate (we never claimed to be clever) but nothing seemed to fit.  We wanted to change the name if only to let people know that's there's a new gal in town - and, believer it or not, there is a Kerr House B&B in Statesville, NC, so it seemed like a change was most definitely needed.   Eventually we settled on "The Grand Kerr House" - the "Grand" is because of the location in Grand Rapids, OH and because we can see her potential.  Not because we were having grandiose delusions of grandeur, and besides, like I said, we just weren't clever enough to think of anything else.

The problem with keeping the name so similar to it's original, is that we somehow got linked up to two one-star google ratings that are haunting us from her past life (of course, we did not get linked up to the many five stars out there for either of The Kerr House locations - go figure).  One reviewer gives a single star saying "out of business since 2016" - OK, that's kinda true, but come on, Michael, give us a chance here!  What we need are people to go on google and say what a beautiful place The Grand Kerr House is - and how simply marvelous the hosts are!

So The Grand Kerr House it is - we have a Facebook Page, a Website, and an email address, and now Bob is working on a logo.  He has been playing with it for several days now and I honestly think its quite good!

Bob is fascinated with the chimneys (the house has four of them!) so he wants to feature them in the logo.  The tops of the chimneys are what he calls "corbeled" and they are beautiful now that they have been restored at great expense.  But that's another story we will share with you in another post.


So now you know how we ended up with the name "the Grand Kerr House" - please check out our website, like us on Facebook, and follow our Blog.  It's all great fun!

Welcome to Kerrent Knews!

Welcome to Kerrent Knews - The blog site for The Grand Kerr House, a Queen Anne Victorian (soon to be a B&B) located in Grand Rapids, OH.  My husband, Bob, and I purchased her last Autumn at an auction.  We did not go to the auction with the intent of bidding, let alone buying, this 8,000 square foot lady in distress. We went to see who would be crazy enough to want this home built in the 1880's that is in need of so much TLC.  Much to my surprise, it turned out to be us!

The Kerr House was owned by the same family for almost 100 years until, 40 years ago, it was purchased by Lauri and turned into a Spa and Wellness Center visited by guests from around the world.  Visitors could spend a day, a weekend, a week, or even longer at The Kerr House relaxing and rejuvenating with breakfast in bed, massages, herbal wraps, reflexology, yoga classes and more.  With the declining economy, Lauri was forced to close her doors and the home fell into the hands of a couple who purchased it (also at auction) not knowing what they wanted to do with the building but recognizing her good bones and great potential.  Unfortunately, the new owners were not able to develop a viable plan or adequate funding for the The Kerr House and it went up for auction again in 2016.  That's when Bob and I fell in love with the dream (did I mention the word "crazy" earlier?).

So here we are, six months later, with a website, a Facebook page, a blog, and a story to share.  I hope you will check in with us often to see how we are doing and what the Kerrent Knews is.  I promise to share the good, the bad and the ugly and hope that through your comments and feedback, we can return The Grand Kerr House back into the beautiful lady that she deserves to be.