Salisbury's only bed & breakfast is historic Gillis-Grier House. Look inside, meet owners
When it’s time to go on a vacation, where do you stay?
A hotel? Motel? Do you use an online platform like Airbnb or Vrbo?
Or how about a bed and breakfast?
Choosing to stay at a bed and breakfast can be a unique choice for some and the perfect choice for others.
“They come knowing that they’re going to be a part of your family, your home,” Charleen Burik said.
Hops on the RIver returning soon: Hops on the River: All to know about downtown Salisbury's 4th big craft beer-tasting event
Gillis-Grier Bed and Breakfast in Salisbury's historic Newtown
Burik and her husband John own and run the Queen Anne Victorian-styled home, the Gillis-Grier Bed and Breakfast, at 401 N Division St. in Salisbury’s Newtown Historic District.
Guests who stay at their bed and breakfast can expect to be entertained with conversation with the Buriks along with receiving recommendations about the area.
Inside the three-story home guests have four rooms to pick from. Three of the rooms on the third floor have shared baths, while the one on the second floor has a private one.
Breakfast is of course served for guests in the morning, and recently the Buriks received the required license to also serve lunch and dinner.
“I’m now officially allowed to make something for them if I want to. I’m excited about that, a little nervous because I don’t know how I’m going to handle that one,” she said.
They decided to get the license to serve meals outside of breakfast so they could better accommodate guests who arrive late in the day and don’t have anywhere else to get a late-night meal.
Wicomico BOE adjust banned books policy: Who can challenge books in Wicomico schools? Board adopts new policy
'Feel like family' when you stay at a bed and breakfast
It’s the type of hospitality that guests can get at the bed and breakfast.
“It’s just having a relationship with all of our guests that walked in my door. I’m in touch with so many of them. Just through emails and just in general because I fall in love with everybody,” Burik said.
“There’s not one guest that has walked in my door that I don’t wish back. They’ve all been beautiful people.”
She did recall one guest that stopped in for a couple days on business who had never stayed at a bed and breakfast before. He figured that he would give it a shot.
“When he left, he says, ‘I have to tell you this place is amazingly awesome, but I think I’m not a B&B person,’ and I said, ‘that’s okay. You don’t have to, but now you know,’ ” Burik said.
Many people do like hotels where they can walk in and not have any interaction or relationship with anyone.
“But people that come to a bed and breakfast know they expect to feel like family. It’s fun,” she said.
Salisbury apologizes for lynchings: City of Salisbury officially passes lynching apology, but does it go far enough?
'Retirement' actually leads to new bed and breakfast adventure
Burik is a bed and breakfast person, but it wasn’t until a Mother’s Day weekend stay at one in the Finger Lakes of New York that she started to get curious about running one herself.
She was with her daughter at a gorgeous 15-room bed and breakfast on top of a hill.
“The owners would sit with us and talk to us. It was just curiosity you know, because it was just him and his wife. He said it was the easiest thing in the world,” Burik said.
She didn’t think much of it at the time, but the seed was planted in the back of her mind.
Once she got home from that trip, her husband told her that he wanted to retire by the end of the year, but she did not want to join that retirement.
“I was always a preschool teacher, youth leader. I was always involved in my church, and I said, I don’t want to sit down. So, it just popped back in my brain. What about if we do a small B&B, and my husband never says no to me, bless his soul,” she said.
Burik and her husband John are now officially retired, and owning the bed and breakfast is a way for her to have some fun and not drive her husband crazy. He handles the cooking, while she does the rest.
She enjoys having something to do and having people to chat with. Running the bed and breakfast has allowed her to do just that in "retirement."
“I’ve always been in a hospitality type of setting mostly through my church. So, this was an easy fit for me to just slide right in and be a people person,” she said.
What's ahead for Salisbury Zoo: Salisbury Zoo announces 5-year master plan. Here's what's ahead, including new exhibits.
Owner fell in love with Gillis-Grier House second she walked in the door
Once the decision was made to run a bed and breakfast, the task came to finding their new home to live and work in. The Gillis-Grier house was the second house they looked at, and Burik fell in love.
“The second I walked in the door I knew this was going to be my house,” she said.
“I think it’s really interesting with turning older homes into B&Bs. It’s kind of like if the walls can talk, they’ll just tell you everything.”
The historic Gillis-Grier House would have a lot to say. It was built in 1887 by James Cannon, but is named for the two families who owned the property between 1896 to 1975.
It has a lavish design, with 19th-century aesthetics and many personal touches.
“They didn’t skimp on anything in this house,” Burik said.
Oysters hit major milestone: 'Oyster renaissance' in Chesapeake continues as total in Bay hits major milestone
Special touches include marble tile stained glass windows and more
The fireplaces have marble tile from Italy. Stained glass windows adorn the house, with designs that feature the Maryland state flower, the black-eyed Susan and the dogwood flower to represent the city of Salisbury.
Interestingly, in the dining room one window is designed with an American red squirrel.
Original to the house are beautiful chandeliers that were housewarming gifts.
“And it’s very fragile. I went to dust and the wire just fell off in my hand. Now I just spray it to dust it. I don’t touch it,” she said.
Fred Grier was the first person in Salisbury who had an electric light, a lamp, in his home, and it was the first house that had electricity.
He bought that lamp from New York, and it’s currently stored at the Salisbury University Nabb Research Center.
“It’s just been fun learning about the Gillis-Griers,” Burik said.
Harris fire new anti-wind salvo: Rep. Andy Harris fires new salvo at 'incredibly expensive' offshore wind projects
Gillis-Grier House is Salisbury's only bed and breakfast
The Newtown Historic District was zoned to allow for bed and breakfasts in 2015, and the Buriks were the first in the area to decide to open one.
“And I’m the only one in the city of Salisbury from my knowledge, and I haven’t had anybody correct me yet,” she said.
Sue Ellen and Jeff Smith were the previous owners of the Gillis-Grier House, and they did a lot of the restoration to keep the Victorian era house in perfect shape. They added the wallpaper and paint currently seen on and inside the house.
“I just literally walked in. I didn’t have to do anything except make it into a B&B. They took our offer and it’s just been a whirlwind ever since,” she said.
The Buriks only needed to do relatively minor things to the house. They put in central air, and gas heaters to replace the oil ones.
It had been smooth sailing for them when they opened Oct. 1, 2019. Until March of 2020, when everything stopped.
“We were, what is the phrase that they use when we’re not important?”
Nonessential.
“Yeah. So, we had to close down until I think July they let us open back up. That was a scary time because I had just bought the house and I mean I literally just opened up as a bed and breakfast, and then we were shut down,” Burik said.
OC dog park gets improvements: Ocean City's Dog Playground will reopen soon after improvements, and here's what to expect
A struggle during COVID-19 pandemic, but thriving ever since
During that time, she had a lot of phone calls from doctors and nurses from Virginia who wanted to stay at the bed and breakfast while helping the hospital in Salisbury, since it was so overloaded with patients.
“But I’m only zoned to do up to two week stays, otherwise I’m considered a boarding house,” she said.
Burik called the city of Salisbury in an attempt for a waiver, but the city said no.
“We were closed the entire time of the pandemic. But once we opened up, we were able to start our clientele and now we’re got returning customers, so it’s exciting,” she said.
Berlin's 2nd Wave Coffee: 2nd Wave Coffee owner is making small-business dream come true in Berlin. Meet her here.
Tending to Gillis-Grier House a 'godsend' after cancer diagnosis
It’s been years since, and Burik said that the transition was the perfect thing for her.
One day she’ll slow down, and she was forced to two years ago when she was diagnosed with cancer.
“But I think the house was a godsend for me when I was going through chemotherapy because I refuse to give in to feeling sorry for myself. I kept moving,” she said.
Her bed and breakfast is three-stories and she does all the cleaning. It would take her a long time, but she would move going up the stairs one step at a time.
“One step, sit down. Go up another. It took me a long time to do whatever I needed to do, but I refused to let the cancer take over me. I honestly think that helped me get through everything. This house. I am slowing down a little bit but I’m still enjoying it. It’s still fun,” she said.
Snow Hill's Chanceford Hall B&B: Snow Hill's Chanceford Hall bed and breakfast offers chance to step back in time
How to book a stay at Salisbury's Gillis-Grier House
Rooms can be booked for a stay at the Gillis-Grier Bed and Breakfast on their website at gillisgrierbnb.com or on their Facebook page at GillisGrierbnb.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Salisbury history is preserved at Gillis-Grier House Bed and Breakfast
