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Shipman House Bed & Breakfast: Lodging Fit for a Queen in Hilo, Hawaii By
George Medovoy, Editor (Above, a still life photograph of the inn, including the piano, evokes a feeling of Old Hawaii. Barbara-Ann Anderson photo) Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii -- Enjoying breakfast on the spacious lanai of the Shipman House B&B, I couldn't help thinking about someone who preceded me almost a century ago. Queen Lili'uokalani of Hawaii used to come here for poi luncheons when the gracious Victorian mansion was the private residence of the Shipman family. After a pleasant meal, she would sit herself down in front of the piano and entertain her hosts while smoking a big cigar.
(The stately Shipman House is now a very comfortable bed-and-breakfast inn on Reed's Island in Hilo, Hawaii. George Medovoy photo) Royalty may have disappeared, but the venerable old home filled with treasures of the past is an important reminder of old Hilo. Perched on a hill on Reed's Island and connected by a wooden bridge to nearby Hilo Bay and its historic wood-frame facade, Shipman House is all about gracious living in nineteenth-century Hawaii…transplanted to the twenty-first. When we first walk up to the big front door, we notice a printed request to take off our shoes before entering - a Hawaiian custom which will protect the polished wood floors. This grand old house has been in Barbara-Ann Andersen's family for generations; she and her husband Gary care for it with great love, from the original grandfather clock in the hallway to the lovely dining room table...and all the many other antiques.
(The Shipman's would retire to their library in the evening after dinner. Barbara-Ann Anderson photo) At Shipman House, the idea is to slip into the relaxed atmosphere of Victorian Hawaii, like the Library, for instance, which is still very much the way it was when the Shipman's would gather in the evening to play cards or Mary Shipman rocked her babies in the rocker. Stepping off the plane in Hilo simply forces you to shift into low gear, perhaps a lingering influence of plantation days. And with 128 inches of rain annually on the eastern side of the Big Island, the city is a veritable tropical paradise, with flowers everywhere and attractions like the 30-acre, Japanese-style Lili'uokolani Gardens near Hilo Bay.
(Tropical flowers are plentiful at the Hilo Farmer's Market, held every Wednesday and Thursday. Photo by Bob Coello/Big Island Visitors Bureau)
Just 45 minutes away is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Hawaii has four historically-active volcanoes -- Haleakala on Maui and Mauna Loa, Hualalai and Kilauea on the Big Island. Kilauea is the only one currently erupting. One morning, we drive to Kilauea, 4,000 feet up a two-lane highway, passing joggers determined to make it to the top in a driving rain. At the visitor center, we pick up a printed guide and go on a self-guided tour in our car, stopping first to smell sulfur-scented team pouring out of cracks in the earth that are cordoned off by a protective railing.
(Visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park stop to take in all the steam coming from cracks in the earth. George Medovoy photo) Then we drive to the edge of a giant crater, where we brave the rain and wind to watch in amazement as sulfur oozes out of the earth. We cap our outing in style, with wine tasting at nearby Volcano Winery in the hamlet of Volcano. Our favorite wine, sweet Macadamia Nut Honey Wine, is made from macadamia nut tree honey...and exceptionally good when chilled.
(Volcano Winery produces a variety of wines made with Big Island fruits and is now also growing Pinot Noir grapes. Volcano Winery photo) The winery is hopeful about its newly-planted Pinot Noir grapes because the cooler mountain weather should be good for them. The next morning at Shipman House, Barbara-Ann joins us for breakfast on the lanai, a memorable feast of fruits dripping with a sensual mix of textures, tastes, and colors. Everything, except for the papayas, is grown on the property.
(Barbara-Ann invites her guests to a wonderful breakfast, the highlight of which is an array of fresh fruit mostly grown on her property. George Medovoy photo) There's avocado, pomelo, blood oranges, a reddish, porcupine-like fruit called rambutan, limes to squeeze on the papayas, passion and star fruits, apple bananas, honey mandarins, and tart Surinam cherries.
(The fruits for breakfast are memorable, to say the least! George Medovoy photo) On top of all that, Barbara-Ann adds hard-boiled eggs, cheese, macadamia-nut granola, whole-grain English muffins, a creamy spread called liliko'i butter made with passion fruit that I can't get enough of, and rich Kona coffee. Barbara-Ann's great-great-grandparents came to the Big Island as missionaries, and her great-grandparents bought the house. "This is me, my roots," she says. And talk about roots - our second-floor room, Auntie Clara's Room, is named for the second-eldest of the Shipman daughters.
(Auntie Clara's Room has lovely views of Hilo Bay. Clara was the Shipman's second-eldest daughter. Barbara-Ann Anderson photo) "Auntie Clara was the quintessential grandma," Barbara-Ann notes, "she always had hugs, milk and shortbread cookies -- home-baked, of course -- ready when you showed up." Auntie Clara's Room, big and comfortable, has a spectacular view of Hilo Bay through one of the windows, where we saw the first of many Big Island rainbows. The room has koa furniture, a queen-size bed, a large private bath adjacent in the hall (not shared) with a claw-foot tub and a separate shower. At night, Barbara-Ann tells us, we might be bothered by the mating calls of frogs, but she's provided ear plugs on the night stand to drown it all out.
(A brilliant rainbow as seen through the window of Auntie Clara's Room, one of many seen in Hilo. George Medovoy photo) We don't mind, though, because it's all part of life here, and besides, if we use ear plugs, we'll miss hearing Waikapu Stream - the "forbidden stream" - which runs through the gulch below the room. After all, we want to experience everything "uniquely Hilo." WHEN
YOU GO… For reservations or more information about Shipman House, call (808) 934-8002 or visit www.hilo-hawaii.com. For
more information about Big Island travel, call (800) 648-2441 or visit www.bigisland.org.
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