Margaret Episode Final
Jacqui: [00:00:00] Hello, my friends. Are you ready for story time? Let me set the scene for you. The rain is pinging on the windows as they shake under the force of a strong breeze. But none of that concerns you. You are settled into a red and white checkered wingback chair, as the warmth coming from the gas stove inserted into a large old brick fireplace keeps you cozy.
Every so often you look up from your book, to glance around the parlor to take in the rich tapestry of art. Antiques and the layering of patterns and fabric, a blissful state envelops you while you ponder the comfy bed awaiting you. A blissful state envelops you while you ponder the comfy bed waiting.
Besides your companion, there are no other guests in this beautifully crafted home [00:01:00] built in the 1670s. Your head, just another to spend the night under its roof. You've now become part of this building's history. The best part is that it's true. It all happened to me and can happen to you as well. I was able to stay the night at the Bursley Manor in Barnstable on Cape Cod.
For someone who is a fan of New England and history and possesses a writer's soul, it was a sublime experience. I also chatted with Margaret Rankin, the owner of this historic B& B. Today, we are going to hear her story. Stay tuned for that. Welcome to Jackie Just Chatters. Thank you for joining me. I'm your hostess, Jackie Lentz, and I'm trying to make the world a little better, one story at a time.
Whimsical episodes come out every other Tuesday. What's your story? If you've got one, reach out via my website. Now, let's get chatting.[00:02:00]
Some of you already know that while I wait to find a literary agent, I took myself on a research trip to Cape Cod for my next novel. The basics of the book are this. It's about a wife and husband who are at a turning point in their lives and are given the opportunity to house sit a B& B on Cape Cod during the winter while they figure out their path forward.
One of my goals was to learn about B& Bs, and what it was like to live there during the winter, and when there were no guests. I couldn't believe my luck when that situation landed in my lap. A friend of a friend introduced me to Margaret Rankin, the gracious owner of Historical B& B. She allowed my traveling companion, Amy and I, to spend the night.
I love that phrase, traveling companion. I don't know why we don't use it more often. Since it was the off season, we were able to have the home to ourselves. What luck for us! After a ridiculously luxurious experience, Margaret agreed to sit down and have a chat [00:03:00] with me. I am here at the Bursley Manor with Margaret Rankin.
She is the proprietess of the establishment. We are here on a lovely rainy day, so it's a perfect day to be cozy inside, and this place could not be more cozy. More cozy. It is so charming and you are fantastic for agreeing to sit down and talk to me. Thank you for being on my show. Thank you for having me.
You have an amazing history besides the history of this place. You were born in Bremerhaven, Germany, which is north on the coast. You were born in Germany. Yeah. And. You've lived seven countries? No, I've lived in 12. Wow!
Margaret Rankin: Holy crap! Okay, what are some of the highlights there? I love Thailand, and Jamaica was great, and I like places with beaches.
I've lived on a lot of islands. I've lived on Nantucket, Jamaica, [00:04:00] and Thailand. I lived on the island of Koh Samui. And so I like anywhere where the beaches are. Water is clear and blue and Cape Cod fits the definition, even though it's colder than I expected to choose. How long were you on Nantucket? Just a summer.
I was there from May until October. Oh, you did a season. I did. I worked at the Wall Winnet, a small and very fancy hotel. You have had a ton of careers. What are some of the things that you've done? I've been a journalist. I've been a communications director. I've been a newspaper delivery girl that was, um, worked at Baskin Robbins as a kid.
I've been I'm a contractor for various, uh, government jobs, and I'm a journalist.
Jacqui: You are one of the few other females I've met that delivered newspapers. I
Margaret Rankin: did that when I was a kid. Ah, I delivered the Washington Post, 82 copies of it. And now I work for them, writing for them. [00:05:00]
Jacqui: You were starting really at the bottom.
Yes.
Margaret Rankin: I was.
Jacqui: Tell me about the Burnsley Manor. Let's start with the history of. The home. Okay. Cause it's got a history.
Margaret Rankin: The Bursley Manor was built in 1670 as the farmhouse to John Bursley's Maple Spring Dairy. And it is, it was just the main house, which is a five bedroom house. And the one of the bedrooms, which is now the Captain Jack bedroom, it was the kitchen, the summer kitchen.
And then this was the main kitchen here with the large fireplace and the Dutch oven. And it has five fireplaces. And the family was active. in the area as politicians, as merchants, as the annual Christmas party for the whole town for over 300 years. Was it held here? Oh yeah, this was a gathering place.
This [00:06:00] was a big house back then. For 300 years! People came here for Christmas every year. Yes, it wasn't always the Bursleys. It went on to the weathervane store called the Salt and Chestnut. And you'll see on the back house that I found one of those weathervanes at a garage sale and brought it and installed it.
And I called, the woman's name was Marilyn Strauss and her son is a, I guess it's called a presidential scholar at a university in California. And I sent him pictures of the copper weather vane of a boat, and he said, Yep, that's one of my mom's collaborations. And I installed that in the back. But, so that was Salt and Chestnut.
And she also rented out to oceanographers, who came to study whales. And they lived in the attic, which wouldn't be possible today, because it's too hot. But there were three bedrooms in the attic. And, and then, on the, Top floor, there were three then, and then there's one above the kitchen. [00:07:00] And then down here, there was one, and they had an apartment.
So they lived in the apartment that adjoins the Bursley Manor as a wing. And then it moved on to be owned by a succession of bed and breakfast owners, at least three.
Jacqui: And you are the latest to care for the house. I'm the fourth, actually. You were telling me about, so we've got the five fireplaces. Yes. And.
I was stunned when I asked you about the flu and what you told me. I couldn't believe it. There's no
Margaret Rankin: flus in the house. No. And I did have an energy efficiency study done to see by the company HomeWorks Cape Cod Compact. And basically what they told me was that the, the air in the house changes one and a half times an hour.
I'll never have a mold problem ever again. But I'll never be efficient either. I, I, the only way to do something about the chimneys is to put balloons up in them so that the air [00:08:00] doesn't escape through the chimneys. And I just didn't like that idea. Cause the main fireplace in the parlor downstairs is used by all.
And I just don't want the chimneys all converge. As you saw, there's a window that you can look in on the interior joining of the chimneys. So I'd have to put a balloon in the main chimney and I couldn't use any of the fireplaces. Oh, that would be terrible. It would.
Jacqui: That window and seeing in. That was amazing.
I know that it's traditional to have in older homes, the center stack, but you could have so many chimneys forming together like that. Five. Yeah. It was an architectural wonder. Like it was fantastic. I'm so glad that somebody put a window there instead of covering it up. That was genius. Yes, it was. It's fantastic.
I just could stare at it for 10 minutes. Like, Looking at all the different stacks and [00:09:00] how like the bricks are
Margaret Rankin: laid. So I've just never seen anything like it. And I love how the last Mason who pointed repointed the chimneys signed that it was done in a certain date in 1926 at 10 a. m. in the morning.
Jacqui: Why did you this on? Why did you decide? Okay, you know what? I've done all these different things now. Now I'm going to be a B and B owner.
Margaret Rankin: That's gonna be my thing. Actually, I had always wanted to be a B and B owner from the time I was a teenager. And I told my parents at that time, we're going, when we're old, we're going to be living at the beach and you will be helping me with the bed and breakfast.
And my mother and father said, no, we won't.
No, we will not. We will be retired and you will be doing whatever you want to do. But as it happened, I meant to do this when I was in my sixties. I am 60 now, but when I [00:10:00] started, I was in my fifties and I bought the place in 2018 and I Meant to have a longer career, but I'd moved back to the States from Thailand.
And it's very difficult to get into the work market as a woman in your fifties. And I thought, okay, I'll just go ahead and be my own boss now. And my mother passed away and my father moved here to the Cape with me and he does help me in the bed and breakfast. So it's a realization of a long time dream.
Oh, When he came by yesterday,
Jacqui: your dad is so delightful. Isn't he cute? Oh, he is. And it was so funny that my friend and I both were like, Oh my God, we just got so the dad vibes. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Dad coming over, helping with something, doing it. I'm like, finish it in the
Margaret Rankin: bird feeder.
Jacqui: Yep.
He does. He comes over and I'm like, why don't you sit with his, oh no, this is, he sees something and he's going to. [00:11:00] on it. He's 87 and he'll be 88 in June. No way. Yeah. Your dad cannot be that old. He is.
Margaret Rankin: Yeah.
Jacqui: Wow. I, both of you age. Well, I don't know if you've made a deal with the devil or like some Thai
Margaret Rankin: special syrup that you got.
I think it's just that we do. I've never had children, so I think having children really does look your age, generally because it's so stressful to have a child and to have to look after that child's needs all the time. I've been very lucky to be able to do what I like and not, and take stress as I want to take it, rather than take it as a necessity.
If there's anything, and my dad had his own career and he was often working alone. So I think that marching in step is something that takes its toll on a human. It's much more fun to [00:12:00] be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it. So you two are just like born of independent nature. Yes. In fact, everyone in the family is.
Direction isn't great.
Jacqui: I hope you are enjoying this episode of Jackie just chatters. I would like more people to join our community here and you can help. Most people learn about podcasts from word of mouth. So tell your friends. Or post about the program on your social media. Also, shows with more positive reviews and 5 star ratings get wider promotion on apps.
Leaving a quick 5 stars or mentioning why you like the show makes a difference. Together we can spread those positive vibes. Thanks again for listening. I'm grateful for you. Now back to the show. I see you've got, you showed the new hot tub you've got putting in. Yep. And you've got a
Margaret Rankin: new project planned.
I've put the new hot tub in and I have a far infrared sauna for [00:13:00] four. So the house comes equipped with special equipment. tubs in all of the rooms, but it would be nicer to be able to share after the beach, come shower and get in the hot tub and then, or go run and then come back and have a sauna. So it's going to be more of a spa experience for my guests from going forward.
Jacqui: I have a feeling I could come back here in 10 years. And every year you could say, oh, this year I added this, and then this year I did that. You just do not sit still. You can't be like, okay, it's good, and now I'm just gonna maintain. I don't know if you're a maintainer kind of person.
Margaret Rankin: No, I'm not. And, and basically for me, doing this is a way to avoid boredom for the rest of my life.
You can always find something that will be more fun for your guests and more comfortable and more convenient. And so that's what I am working on. And my accountant came here and told me, you're not going to make a profit for the [00:14:00] first three years. Nobody does. This is a labor of love. And basically you will pour all of your profits back into your business.
And I found that's what I want to do. And that's fine because that's what I want to invest in. It
Jacqui: shows the investment. This place is amazing. So charming versus like a Spartan place. I think that's why so many people like bed and breakfasts is the care that's put into them because they are home. People live there that it should feel like a home versus
Margaret Rankin: More Spartan hotel style.
Part of the decoration of this, I get everything secondhand. I get it at garage sales. I get it off Craigslist. I get it off Facebook. I get it off eBay. I get it at estate sales. Part of that is that I'm pet friendly. Pets do destroy furniture. There's just no getting around that. So I consider everything in the house a large cat toy.
And once it has been loved up, It has to be [00:15:00] replaced. And I know that this house needs to have antiques. It needs to have plush wing. What are they called? Wing back chairs. And it needs to have velvet. It needs to have damask. It needs to have a lush window treatments. And basically, It, it needs to have a soft feel to it and that, because I moved around for so long when I was a child, my father moved us from Bethesda to Korea to Germany and back to Rockville, Maryland, and then I moved on to many countries and I could never collect anything.
So it's a. A real joy to be able to choose whatever I think will look great in the house and on the cape, it's always around you. There's always a sale going on. There's always something that you can stop by and say, Hey, I'm sure that would have been in the house in the 1800s. That would have been in the house in the 1600s, but basically it's [00:16:00] really a wonderful thing to be able to put it together like a puzzle, find the thing that is the right look for each room.
And I'll never need to stop doing that.
Jacqui: This place
Margaret Rankin: is delightful
Jacqui: and it feels the history, which is so nice because too many people when they get a historic home, they start ripping out all the history and then replacing it. The original doors
Margaret Rankin: and like the original windows, mainly I've replaced the ones on the front, but also it has its own history.
His, for instance, I have plans for the gardens from the 1800s, and the trees on the property were brought back. The Bursley boys, there were two Bursley boys, and they were friends with Mad Captain Jack, who is known to have gone around the world and hunted pirates. And during his journeys, he hunted pirates for the U.
S. government, and during his journeys, he would [00:17:00] pick up trees, seedlings, and bring them back. And all these gigantic horse chestnuts all over the property are from his return journeys and bringing them as presents, and now they're 70 feet tall. I have never heard of
Jacqui: somebody, like, their
Margaret Rankin: souvenir. Yeah, yeah, he loved plants.
Jacqui: That is so interesting of what a way of like bringing these different places back is to bring plants and trees.
Margaret Rankin: I love that. Yeah, and Jack Percival was the guy who would carry him back on his ships and they're still here to look at today.
Jacqui: If somebody was coming to the Cape and you were going to give them.
One tip, one piece of advice, something they should do, know, whatever it is. There's no question
Margaret Rankin: in my mind, you need to go on a whale watch. There are so many different kinds of whales that come to visit the Cape each year. And you can choose to [00:18:00] go on small boats out of Provincetown, or you can choose to go out of Barnstable Harbor.
On fast, high speed boats, but it's just wonderful to see dolphins, minkies, gray whales, all these different wonderful whales. And it is what the Cape and Nantucket and Massachusetts are really about was the whaling industry. And in in the rooms, there's 1 of my rooms is Moby Dick. And in it there's the book and history of Wailing and there are puzzles on doing whales where you build puzzles that have all different kinds of whales in it.
I just think that is really what put this on the map and so yes, go see whales. It's a wonderful experience. I've been on a few
Jacqui: whale watching trips in my life. It is. It's amazing.
Margaret Rankin: Do you love it? I really do. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jacqui: They're phenomenal.
Margaret Rankin: Yes. The whale tours close in October. They close basically when Columbus Day has come and gone.
[00:19:00] That's when everything shuts down on the Cape. But the whales start coming in in the spring months and then they stay here on the Stellwagen Bank to feed on all of the abundant fish and everything that's in the water up there. And that is the experience that staples it all together for me. It is Cape Cod.
I
Jacqui: will give you a personal tip, folks, from my experience. Do not try to take a photo. You'll never get it. Like, when you're trying to get that perfect photo, they're coming, you'll always have it wrong. Or you'll see this blurry bit, and you're like, that was a whale. I discovered, take videos.
Margaret Rankin: Yes, that's correct.
Just
Jacqui: put a video on, and just let it roll when they start showing up, and then you'll get your
Margaret Rankin: images, and then you'll be happy. Another tip. Don't buy the video or photos that they do on the boat. You're going to do just as well. Now that I've asked you for a tip,
Jacqui: you talked about The generational differences when it comes to [00:20:00] seeking advice as far as tourists go.
And I just thought that was fascinating. Like Gen Xers versus Millennials.
Margaret Rankin: Ah, oh yes. Gen Xers still want to have advice from me as the innkeeper. And Millennials want to look it up on their phone. They don't want any advice of what to do or see. And the truth be told, the information is out there for them.
It's on the internet. It's on the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce site. It's on, if you look up things to do on Cape Cod, there are dozens of top ten lists, and they all say the same things. It's fine with me, but it's unfortunate because you don't get to interact. with those guests who want to be self directed.
You don't get to know them as much and you don't get to share experience.
Jacqui: I think for me, I go and look on those things. I do those same things. But I want to know stuff that's Not on those. I want that person. I'm like, you [00:21:00] live here. You're the expert. Tell me some insider tips. Like, I want stuff that's never going to make it on those top 10 lists.
That also means there's probably less tourists there. Like, where's the hidden beach? Where do the locals go? That's
Margaret Rankin: what I want to know. There are lots of things too. The locals would be angry with me to tell you what they are. Don't give away our secrets! Right? Uh, basically, if you can sit down at a bar, for instance, Kurt, the writer Kurt Vonnegut used to live in West Barnstable.
Yeah! Yes! And there's, in Barnstable proper, there's a restaurant called The Dolphin that's been around forever and ever. And, The waitresses are in their fifties and sixties and seventies and have gravelly voices and Kurt used to sit at the bar. It was his place and it's wonderful to visit these old places.
That's not something that most people would. Want to go to, because it's so old [00:22:00] fashioned, people want to go to glittery, wonderful restaurants, looking out over the bay or wherever it is. But this is just an old place that serves huge portions of American family fare at the beach. And that's the kind of place that people here want to go to.
Jacqui: That's the kind of place I want to go to. Glitters is fine, but a lot of it's, no, I want to, that's, for me, when I travel, I'd rather stay in one area and really get to know it and experience it. Yeah. Versus like. A checklist of, okay, I need to see this and this. Yes. I want to just soak it in and not have to rush in a space because then you really know what it's like.
But that's, again, that's how I travel.
Margaret Rankin: I've noticed a trend here. It's surprising to me, but this old house, this 1670 house keeps people in it. I would think at the beach that people would spend the whole day at the beach, but people like to hang out on the [00:23:00] patio and hang out in the living room and read.
And I did design it with nooks so that the three rooms that I rent never have to meet one another if they don't want to, or they can all gather in one room at one table. And so this place gives people quiet, the time to, to breathe emotionally and, and physically. And you can sleep as long as you want and do whatever you want.
I want
Jacqui: to thank you so much for letting us be here. Come here and spend time in this amazing place. And then on top of the sit down and tell me all your stories that if I let you tell me all your stories, like we'd be here for five hours. But I appreciate you so much.
Margaret Rankin: Thank you, Jackie. It's a delight to talk to you.
And I'm really glad I thought. When you told me you were writing a book, I just really wanted you to experience B& B in the wintertime on Cape Cod and to live the experience that your main character will have. And so I'm delighted that you are here. [00:24:00] Oh,
Jacqui: I have learned so much like for my trip. Like it's been fantastic before you got here.
I was like scribbling down notes. I'm like, okay, my observations. And I took all these pictures. So it's been great. It will definitely come alive. I look forward to reading it. In case you were wondering which themed rooms Amy and I stayed in, I selected the lighthouse room because well, I adore lighthouses.
Amy chose the whale room. I almost drooled over the floors. The wooden boards were about like 10 to 12 inches wide. And if you know something about wood floors, then you understand why I wanted to take those home with me. So fricking bad. A link to the establishment will be available in the episode notes.
You can also find photos of the B& B and my journey on Facebook and Instagram, which links are also in the episode [00:25:00] notes for that too. I reached out on Facebook and Instagram for people's tips or favorites or stories of Cape Cod. Here are some of the responses I got. Margaret Kansa and her family checked out the underwater cable museum.
They had read about the cable project beforehand and really enjoyed their time at the museum. You can find links in the notes. She thought her family would be swimming in the ocean every day. They were not prepared for all the shark warning signs. When they arrived at her cousin's for the week, the cousin took them to town and said they should try a different ice cream place each day.
And they did. Because, of course, the kids reminded them. Their favorite was in Orleans, the local scoop. I looked it up. Sorry, folks. They're closed now. So, you might need to find your own favorite place. However, I might have a replacement for you. Janice Robinson Daly suggests during the summer only for [00:26:00] those in the Mid Cape area to go to Four Seas Ice Cream.
And that's Seas, S E A S. It is a landmark favorite in Centerville and apparently frequented by many of the Kennedy clan. Super posh there. Kathleen Pendley says you should go in May or September to the Cape, or plan to stay where you are once you arrive, because the traffic is nasty in the summer. Sarah Bella gives a shout out to Bucca's Italian and the Chatham Bar's Inn for places to eat.
And if you are an early riser, you might be able to catch a look at the seals as the boats come in. Andrea Kennedy, well, she hasn't been since she was a kid, but she remembers amazing saltwater taffy. Oof, I love saltwater taffy. And you know, I didn't get any, and now I feel kind of gypped. I'm gonna have to go back and get some.
The most exciting tip comes from C. D. [00:27:00] Bennett, who said Cape Cod has fantastic oysters at great prices, but her most vivid memory was about her trip going parasailing and almost being dropped on top of a great white shark. Whoo! I think we can all agree that is a travel adventure we could do without.
Thank you all for your wonderful advice and memories, and thank you friends for sticking around to the end of this story. My listeners are the best listeners in the world. A reminder to those interested in submitting a short story about endings for this podcast. The due date is April 28th. You can find more details on my last episode or go to my Facebook and Instagram pages.
A quick shout out to my listeners in Ontario, Canada. I'm so glad to have you here. Until next time, I wish you [00:28:00] well.