Shortly after dawn’s crack yesterday Nyel and I headed to Meeting Room A at the County Building in Long Beach to attend a public hearing.  The meeting concerned the application for a special use permit for the Oysterville Guest House.  The house, at the north end of the village, was purchased last summer, along with the adjacent Captain Stream House, and new owners Marty Kilmer and Steve Romero want to continue offering it as a vacation rental.

In attendance were Senior Planner Mike Stevens, Hearing Examiner/Administrator Tim Crose, Guest House Owner Marty Kilmer and us.  Otherwise, the chairs in the room were empty.  We were glad we went.  We had an opportunity to speak about the house and the fact that we consider it an asset to Oysterville.  Our viewpoint seemed to surprise Mr. Crose, no doubt because vacation rentals are not always popular in other peninsula communities.

To the best of my knowledge, the Oysterville Guest House is the only ‘legitimate’ vacation rental within the Oysterville National Historic District – that is, the only one that has been fully permitted by the county.  The house was originally a single family residence, built in 1982 by the Freshly children after their parents’ house on that property burned.

I don’t remember exactly when the house was first sold or when the (then) new owners Lisa and Gretchen converted it for use as a Guest House – sometime in the mid-nineties I’d say.  I know that after my uncle Willard had sold his own Oysterville residence, he rented the Guest House for his summer stays in Oysterville.  He was suffering horribly from terminal bone cancer and could not manage the stairs in the family house.  We all spent lots of time with him at the Guest House for those two summers and I still think of it with special fondness.

Other Oysterville residents, too, have found the Guest House a convenience when their own homes are full-to-overflowing for special events — anniversaries or weddings or the annual Oysterville Regatta.  Two summers ago, my friend Linda from Seattle rented it for a month and invited a series of friends to come for several days at a time.  Since we were included in much of her entertaining, that was great fun for us – like having house guests with none of the responsibilities!

I recently checked out the Oysterville Guest House’s website (oystervilleguest.com) and was pleased to see that it is still up and running.  It has the very best slide show of local scenes on the internet, as well it should.  (Former owner Lisa is a professional photographer and loves the area making for a fabulous presentation.)  We hope Marty and Steve can make that site their own – but first things first!  We eagerly await the news that the Oysterville Guest House is permitted to continue.