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Hoteliers are living their dream Photos by Bob Pennell The recently purchased Prospect Hotel was built in 1892. Its eight rooms and 14 motel units are set on five lush acres that include a gazebo, barbecue pit and fishing on Mill Creek. Seattle couple exit rat race, buy Prospect Hotel By MELISSA MARTIN PROSPECT -- Jo and Mike Turner traded in their corporate clothes and rush-hour commutes for a quiet life on Mill Creek. Instead of negotiating morning traffic jams on Seattle freeways, the Turners walk by whispering sugar pines to their office, a hotel completed in 1892 to attract Crater Lake tourists. "Our friends from Seattle call and ask us what's it like out there," Mike Turner says, "and I tell them how I drive 43 miles before I see my first traffic light." The Turners stepped back in time when they purchased the Prospect Historical Hotel in January 1998. The year-round hotel features eight rooms, all named after famous people who stayed there in the early 1900s, plus 14 motel units, some with kitchenettes. Jo and Mike Turner, the newest owners of the Prospect Hotel, visit in front of the fireplace in the hotel's lobby. Visitors step on a 10-foot-wide porch, complete with a swinging bent-willow love seat. Inside is a pump organ and rock fireplace. The five-acre hotel grounds include a gazebo and barbecue pit, a large grassy field, fishing on Mill Creek and a giant sequoia planted in the 1900s. The seasonal dinnerhouse reopens at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 7, serving chef Marti Morris' specialties, including filet mignon, grilled salmon, chicken dijon, Prospect pot pie and homemade bread, salads and soups. The hotel has caught the eye of international guests in publications ranging from Fodor's "National Parks of the West" series to a magazine published by Cadillac. And if the journals that stay on the antique dressers in the hotel rooms are an indication, guests are happy when they leave the Prospect Hotel. "I feel like I've stepped back in time to an era of gracious hospitality and an unhurried pace," writes Roberta from Iowa. The Prospect Historical Hotel was built by two natives of Maine, Albion and Jennie Boothby. Their great-great-granddaughter, Sheri Boothby, is a summer waitress at the hotel and plans to be married there in September. The hotel flourished under Jim and Mary Grieve, who owned the hotel the longest of any other proprietors -- 1912 to 1952. Their great-great-grandson, Marc Grieve, is a river guide who still books trips out of the Prospect Hotel office. In 1912 and 1913, busloads of tourists spent the night on their way to Crater Lake, which President Theodore Roosevelt declared one of seven wonders of the world in 1909. Past guests included Roosevelt, President Herbert Hoover, three-time unsuccessful presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, author Jack London and conservationists John Muir and Gifford Pinchot. Others were Gillette, of the safety razor company, Dennis Day, an actor on Jack Benny's radio show, and author Zane Grey. A succession of owners reigned between 1952, when the Grieves' son took it over, and 1985, when Central Point residents John and Carol Record bought it and spent more than $1 million to restore the hotel. The Records added private baths, homemade quilts, brass beds and a log home on the property. They also built the motel units. And last year, the old hotel, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, passed to the Turners. They chose Prospect from a list of 50 bed-and-breakfast sites provided by a real estate broker. "We chose Prospect because it's so beautiful here and because the people here are so nice and good-hearted," Jo Turner says. The Turners have already become a part of the community, helping to start the area's first art co-op. They are also public relations agents for Prospect, reminding residents of the Prospect Blue Grass Festival, July 10-11; the 10th Annual Prospect Fly-In, July 17-18; and the Prospect Timber Carnival and Jamboree on Aug. 21. "We love running our own business and not having to work for a boss," Mike Turner says. And Jo Turner adds, "A lot of people dream of doing this." (Prospect Historical Hotel is located at 391 Mill Creek Drive, 560-3664. Visit them on the Internet, www.prospecthotel.com or send e-mail to: [email protected] ) Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA