Tracie Trotter has always been interested in history — she even had two storage pods filled with antiques to prove it. So in 2022, when Trotter spotted an old Victorian inn for sale in Durango, she and her partner, Charles Goodman, called the realtor right away.
“Within a week, we were under contract,” Trotter said.
, a Queen Anne Victorian built in 1892 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was what had caught the eye of Trotter, a nurse and consultant. She and Goodman, an independent investment advisor, were living in New Mexico and had been in Durango searching for retirement homes. The Gable House seemed to have other plans.
“We came back a couple of weeks later and stayed here and met the owner (Heather Bryson), and saw her model of a bed and breakfast, which she had been operating for 31 years,” Trotter said. Seeing the Gable House in full operation made Trotter and Goodman realize they weren’t ready to retire just yet. In fact, the Gable House represented an unfulfilled dream for the duo, both as a home to live in and a business to run.
“The full-service bed and breakfast was something that had always been appealing to me,” Trotter said. “I remember serving my grandmother’s bridge group when I was just a little girl, barely big enough to hold the cookie tray. I’ve been entertaining all my life, whether it was a fundraiser or just events or personal gatherings.”
Today, the Gable House has eight guest rooms and a host of common spaces, including a first-floor porch, a sitting parlor, a second-floor balcony and an upstairs lounge with games and a coffee bar. Before sitting back on one of the cozy seats throughout the inn, guests can help themselves to tea hand-blended by Trotter’s daughter, Mamie, owner of Denver-based .
Trotter and Goodman are passionate about preserving the history of the Gable House while enhancing the guest experience with modern comforts. There’s a long list of touches that make Gable House Inn different from a standard hotel: plush bath towels, soft sheets, housemade bath salts and a chocolate truffle given to every guest upon arrival.
Their sustainability efforts, too, exceed ordinary lodging options.
“We are a platinum-certified green business,” Trotter said. “Being in a building as old as the Gable House, that was not an easy feat. We compost, we have solar energy, we recycle. I do not use any single-use plastics; everything gets refilled.”
They also provide an EV charger for guests who drive to Durango, and there are e-bikes available for exploring the Animas River Trail or visiting Main Avenue, which is just four blocks away.
Guests can get any information they need from Trotter and Goodman, but not before filling up on the most important meal of the day, which, as the B&B model implies, is included with every nightap stay.
“As a nurse, I want to send people off well-nourished, right?,” Trotter said. Among her most popular dishes are toasted pecan waffles served a la mode and stuffed blueberry French toast.
These thoughtful touches certainly go far with guests: The Gable House maintains a 4.9 rating on . However, the passion that Trotter and Goodman have for preserving the town’s history — and making it a core part of the guest experience — is what makes the Gable House Bed and Breakfast Inn stand out from the selection of Airbnbs and hotels in town.
Aside from the small library of history books available for guests to peruse, the best way to learn about the home’s past lives is to listen to Goodman’s stories over a breakfast of yogurt with granola, followed by Trotter’s fluffy mushroom omelets made with local eggs and a fresh cup of high-quality joe from .
Goodman will tell you, for example, how the Gable House was built by business owners James and Eliza Schutt in 1892, after which it became a mercantile. Especially important to the home’s history is that in 1913, a doctor named B.J. Ochsner turned it into a hospital, which is what the property remained until 1962. In 1970, the Gable House was purchased by Heather and Jeffrey Bryson; Heather turned it into a bed and breakfast in 1991, setting it up for Trotter and Goodman’s recent takeover.
With a passion for history and place comes a predisposition for community-building in Durango. “This town is unlike any other small mountain town that we’ve ever known,” Trotter said. “Itap friendly, itap warm, we have opportunities here that you just don’t have in a town of less than 20,000 people.”
Trotter and Goodman have both served on local boards for festivals and tourism organizations, and the Gable House has sponsored beloved Durango events such as and .
Whether guests are just passing through, or attending the , the or a private wedding, Trotter and Goodman make every effort to connect them to the wider community year-round.
“We make it our business to know who does what so that we can help people find what they’re looking for when they’re visiting,” Trotter said. “I have coined myself the unpaid, unsolicited concierge for Durango.”
Michelle Polizzi is a freelance writer based in Denver.
