HOT CHOCOLATE TOUR: INSIDE AREA'S B&Bs

On Sunday, the public will be invited into six local homes that probably are more familiar to tourists than to local people.

The six bed-and-breakfast inns located in Cape Girardeau and Jackson are destinations in Sunday's first-ever Holiday Hot Chocolate Tour, a benefit for the Cape River Heritage Museum.

Tickets are $5 and can be bought at any of the six homes on commencing the tour or at the museum. The tour will last from 1 to 5 p.m.

The houses are the Bellevue Bed and Breakfast, Neumeyer's Bed and Breakfast, Rivendell Bed and Breakfast, and River Walk Bed and Breakfast in Cape Girardeau, and Trisha's Bed and Breakfast and Whitehouse Bed and Breakfast in Jackson.

All will be decorated for the holidays and some will offer entertainment.

The museum at 538 Independence is itself part of the tour and will welcome visitors with hot chocolate, coffee and cookies. Handmade ornaments will be offered for sale for $1.

The museum is on a roll, registering three times as many visitors during the past summer and fall as ever before. Director Patty Mulkey said there is at least one good explanation for the increase: "We've been able to hire help to keep the doors open regularly."

The extra help also has enabled the museum to conduct special tours, such a recent one for 300 Girl Scouts.

Sally Irvine, who only recently joined the museum's board of directors, has helped organize the event along with Mulkey and Mary Miller, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"They are all very interesting in terms of who has lived there and the architecture," said Irvine, a former film director for the BBC who is taking historic preservation classes at Southeast Missouri State University.

"The thing that's nice is there are so many different styles."

Miller said the tour is aimed at helping out the museum and giving the B&Bs some exposure. Though common in Europe, where they are known as "Zimmers," B&Bs are still a relatively new concept in the U.S., Miller said.

"But years ago there were boarding houses. So people are used to being housed in other people's homes."

The B&Bs are:

River Walk Bed and Breakfast, 444 Marie, Cape Girardeau -- The River Walk House was built around 1923 by the owner of a local lumber company and was long occupied by the Ashleys, a family of physicians.

The house's outstanding features are a black marble fireplace and six original pocket windows.

The proprietor is Jeannie Stout.

Neumeyer's Bed and Breakfast, 25 S. Lorimier, Cape Girardeau -- The first house built in Cape Girardeau in the Craftsman style of architecture (1910), Neumeyer's offers a wide verandah with a porch swing and rocking chairs.

The original oak wainscotting can be found in the dining room, living room and den, along with the original ceiling beams, bookshelves and cabinets.

Guests will be welcomed by Tom and Terri Neumeyer.

Rivendell Bed and Breakfast, 151 S. Spanish -- Rivendell was the rectory for the first pastor of St. Vincent parish. It has been added to and remodeled often since the original version of about 1838.

There are four fireplaces, sun rooms on both floor and the downstairs windows feature handblown waves. The latest addition was made by architect John Boardman and his wife, Evelyn. It is now occupied by Jim and Cindy Hall.

Bellevue Bed and Breakfast, 312 Bellevue, -- A Second Empire Victorian built by Henry and Hermene Hunze in 1891. The house was converted to apartments for university students for awhile, but an extensive renovation begun in 1985 has restored much of its uniqueness.

It has four pocket doors, four fireplaces, three bay windows and the original pull-chair toilet.

The owners, Fred and Jackie Hoelscher, bought the house in 1993 and have continued the restoration.

Trisha's Bed and Breakfast, 203 Bellevue, Jackson -- The house was built by H.H. Mueller Jr., bookkeeper for his family's meat-processing company just after the turn of the century. Mueller's widow added an upper wing and rented it out to couples.

Three other families lived there until it was bought by Gus and Trisha Wischmann in 1988.

Whitehouse Bed and Breakfast, 802 E. Washington, Jackson -- Designed in 1908 by Theo. O. Link, known for St. Louis' Union Station. The Romanesque building has 14 rooms on more than three acres.

The oak and pine floors are original. The house features a wrap-around porch and a grand archway that connect the foyer to the interior.

The proprietors are Norman and Violet Colyott.