If you look on a map of Southern Indiana along the Ohio River, the empty space in between Madison, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky is Bethlehem, Indiana.  This extremely small town has a mere population of about 150 people.  Bethlehem does not have any of the usual places like a school, a corner store, a police station, or a local tavern.  It is most well known for the special Christmas seal that is postmarked onto cards and letters throughout the holiday season.  This quiet atmosphere that is bordered by the Ohio River proved to be most appealing for Chet Browne and his wife when they bought a two-story, federal style home.   This Indianapolis couple had visions of running a bed & breakfast in the heart of the country, and that is exactly what they are doing now.

The small Indiana town has not changed much since the early years of riverboat travel with a simple lifestyle and many of the homes date to the late 1800's.  The Browne's home that served the community over the years as a grocery store, post office, and a lodge, now serves as a bed & breakfast.  In 1992 the home was restored to house six seperate rooms with baths, as well as a small kitchen and dining room.  The stately brick home provides a relaxing setting and a beautiful view of the mighty Ohio river.

The popularity of the over-night stop exceeded the six rooms of the original home.  An old tobacco barn on the property provided a possible means for expanding the bed & breakfast.  Preliminary designs by others for the tobacco barn were rejected by the Department of Interiors, so we were asked to redesign the barn.

The new design of the tobacco barn made it possible for the Browne's to receive the federal tax credits necessary to move forward. But, the project was complicted once again with the collapse of the barn's roof structure in a severe storm.

With the barn now complete, the Browne's have a charming addition to their original inn. Four new rooms with seperate baths each and a restaurant have been added. The design also kept the original character of the old tobacco barn by exposing the wooden hand-hewn beams and columns, and by exposing the metal roof. The new addition has become quite successful and adds to the quiet atmosphere of Bethlehem.