Whiteley Creek Homestead ( Brainerd )

A Green Routes Destination, located on thirty-five acres three miles from downtown Brainerd,MN, Whiteley Creek Homestead Bed and Breakfast was featured in Minnesota Monthly Magazine August 2005, Midwest Living Magazine July/August 2005, Great Midwest Country Escapes Book 2005 , St. Paul Pioneer Press Sunday, October 24, 2004, and Country Home Magazine July 2000.

Our bed and breakfast builds upon Brainerd's heritage as a farming community centered around the railroad and mining industry. A signature entree, "Flossie's Eggs on the Rails", was named after one of our most prolific laying hens and the 1890 railroad passenger car "Queen of the Meadow Blooms Tearoom" where guests' breakfast is served. 1930s-40s cars and trucks, vintage farm implements and tools laid to rest amongst flower and herb gardens, laundry flapping in the breeze, and antiques scattered throughout the rooms and property recreate an earlier era in history. Quilt-covered beds are piled high with buckwheat and billowy feather pillows. Made-from-scratch food is prepared with organic and locally-grown ingredients purchased from a local CSA farm, weekly farmer's market, and a neighborhood food coop. Vegetable, flower, and herb gardens are maintained using sustainable growing practices (i.e., natural fertilizers and pesticides, crop rotation, companion planting, composting, rainwater collection, and mulching). We purchase wind power through the Brainerd Public Utilities "WindSense" program. Thirty-five acres, with purposeful planting to attract and protect wildlife, has walking trails and a wetlands area with a creek for canoeing. The Cuyuna Range open pit mining lakes for fishing and boating, Crosby's Croft Mine Tours, French Rapids Trails along the Mississippi River, Paul Bunyan Bike Trail, Paul Bunyan Nature Learning Center, Paul Bunyan Arboretum, and the Pillsbury State Forest offer outdoor activities nearby. In the evenings, wrap yourself in the warmth of a fire crackling in a huge outdoor fieldstone wood-burning fireplace on the screened wraparound porch. OPEN MID-MAY THROUGH OCTOBER... our 11th season! Regrettably, we are not able to accommodate children or pets at our lodging establishment. We have chosen to be an adult retreat... a respite for guests desiring to rejuvenate their physical and emotional energy... to recharge. So that we might provide an atmosphere conducive to that end, we have structured our B&B environment to be as slow-paced, quiet, and free of distractions as possible.

Photos: My Lake Home Bed & Breakfast, Sweet Retreat, A Bed & Breakfast Inn