Butler's Unique Getaway

By Vincent F.A. Golphin

Mildred and Karle Butler lived in Connecticut's Olde Mystic area for nearly thirty years. They had a successful marriage, a thriving business and raised three children. Then, just about the time many people their ages are looking for ways to leave work and relax, the Butlers opened a bed and breakfast. That career allows them to do both.

"In May of 1995, we went on a long weekend to Martha's Vineyard and stayed at our first bed and breakfast," Karle said. They enjoyed the personalized service. "It was a lot quieter," said Mildred. "You get that homey feeling." For her, it triggered long-time desires.

The couple moved to Groton, Connecticut, from Eatontown, New Jersey, in 1966. Karle was a ten-year veteran radioman in the U.S. Navy submarine service.

"Even when we were in Navy housing, I would look at wish books," Mildred recalled. "I would say, 'One of these days, I'm going to have a long table with everybody sitting at it.'"

The trip to Martha's Vineyard was definitely a turning point. Since retiring from the Navy in 1977, Karle has built a successful business as a bonded courier, Executive Courier, a division of Butler Security Service Inc. After the trip, Mildred finally sought her turn.

Karle said, "About a year later, Mildred said she would like to start a bed and breakfast, should anything happen to me. My reply was ëWhy wait until something happens? Let's see if we can do it now.'"

Mildred said the whole project took off faster than she could imagine. "I went away for the weekend," she said. "I came back and he was tearing down the kitchen wall."

	Opened in December 1997, the Butler Bed & Breakfast is close to Foxwoods Casino, Mystic Village, Seaport and Aquarium, and The Mashatucket Museum and Research Center. In addition to the Great Room, left, and oversized Garden Room bedroom, bottom left, Butler also offers two large suites.

Out of the construction emerged several suites, including one with its own bath. The Butlers said their bed and breakfast can sleep ten in comfort. They also created a great room or lounge, complete with conversation pit, television and VCR. The guest quarters abut the Butler's living spaces, but the area can be sealed off. "I wanted to make it so we still had our privacy," Karle said.

Karle said during the past five years he has had doubts about the business from time to time. "But Mildred has held her excitement about the project," he said. "I have grown in my excitement about the bed and breakfast due to all the quality people that we have met and the appreciation they have expressed about their stay with us. We have had the pleasure of serving people from around the world, including France, England, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Peru, not to mention all the nice friends we have made throughout the United States."

Mildred said you have to be a people person to make the business work. "You get all kinds of different personalities," she explained. For example, Mildred said a lady whose daughter paid for her weekend getaway said she was put off because the house was not filled with antiques. Mildred said she dislikes antiques, but did everything to make the woman's stay comfortable.

The Butlers said they try to treat guests as if they were on a visit to their favorite aunt's home. "If they can get along like they have been coming to aunt so and so's house, they leave that way," Mildred said. At other times, the couple said, visitors are forced to confront racial misconceptions or stereotypes, even foreigners.

The Butlers mentioned a couple from France who spent a month in the bed and breakfast. "The mythology of black folks has been exported over there," Karle said. He said U.S. news sources gave the French couple the impression that African Americans were violent and openly hostile toward all whites.

"They were pleasantly surprised," he said. Not only did the couple leave promising to send other family members to Butler Bed and Breakfast, the Butlers received an invite to spend a few weeks as guests of the new-found acquaintances in the French Alps.

"We have fewer rooms than some bed and breakfast locations, but that means we can offer more attention to each person who stays with us," Karle said. The Butler Bed and Breakfast opened officially in December 1997. "Mildred and I have been married 35 years and are looking forward to the next 35 in the bed and breakfast service we provide. It is also nice to live in the Mystic area because of its diversity of places to go and things to see."

The bed and breakfast is located near Stonington and Ledge. It is close to Foxwoods Casino, The Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Village and The Mashantucket Museum and Research Center. Also, the prices of the rooms are more modest compared with other Connecticut rooming places. The single, "garden room" is $90 per night; suites are $145.

"We have two suites," Karle explains. "Each comfortably accommodates two adults and two children or four adults. The Garden Room bedroom is oversized, ornately decorated and fully equipped with a modern bath and shower, color television with cable and a breakfast table." The price includes the meal.

"A Butler Country Breakfast is served for guests from 8 to 10 each morning," Karle said. Mildred said the meal might include scones, a frittata, crepes, seasonal fruit cup, coffee or tea, danish, a tart or coffee cake. "We never heard anybody say they didn't get enough," Karle said.

Mildred is also a licensed baker and has her own pastry business where she specializes in baking cakes and pies. Your Sweettooth Bake Shop creates up to one hundred apple pies a week in the chef's kitchen in her home. Karle also lends a hand and says he's a "licensed apple peeler!"

The Butlers project pleasant personalities, but politely assert the bed and breakfast's limits. The house has strict rules. In order to share rooms, guests must be married. Single patrons are welcome. Mildred said they are welcome to come together, if they want to take separate rooms. Families are welcome to bring children 5 years of age and older. Karle adds, "To ensure that everyone is provided a comfortable stay and a pleasant time, alcoholic beverages and smoking are not allowed on the premises at any time."

For information or reservations, contact Mildred C. Butler, Butler Bed and Breakfast, 112 Shewville Road, Mystic, CT 06355. Call 800-522-1077. Check www.visionthing.com/butler/.