All mavens of social media in our own rights, the GCOA Angels have decided to pack up our collective gifts for a road trip. Our mission: to help market great retreats and resorts using our social media networks in exchange for a complimentary night stay. Forging ahead as Weekend Retweat… Michele Savoldi, Kelly Gingery, Cheryl Harrison, Tiffany Eckhardt and Rose Landon chose our first adventure close to home at The Hopkins House B&B in Mechanicsburg, a short drive west of Columbus.
The Hopkins House B&B
The Cooper family welcomed us to the Hopkins House B&B, a lovely historic home that graces the front of the 200 acre Darbyland Farms. The Hopkins family built the home in 1902 on an existing foundation. The original home built in 1870 was destroyed by a house fire. Harold Hopkins designed the rebuilt home at a mere 10 years old. This becomes apparent, as it seems designed by a young Harry Potter. The unusually sized windows, built-ins, upstairs den with 20-foot cathedral ceiling, sleeping porches, nooks and crannies are just a few of the unique features that creates a sense of stepping back in time.
The restoration of the Hopkins house has been a family affair since 2006 when Amanda Cooper acquired the property. Amanda’s parents Steve and Nona have been actively involved in the three-year renovation. The Hopkins House B&B launched their debut during the 2009 Champaign County Home and Garden Tourwith approximately 800-1000 guests.
Our Stay
Upon arriving, Nona and Amanda gave the WeekendRetweaters the grand tour. The entire house would be ours to enjoy for the evening. The Hopkins house makes an excellent retreat for all kinds of groups, such as card clubs, quilting groups, scrapbook clubs, etc. Once checked into our grand retweat, rooms were chosen and we were off to Urbana for dinner. The Hopkins House is surrounded by many great local eateries both in Mechanicsburg and Urbana.
Verde
Verde located in Urbana’s historic downtown treated us to an amazing complimentary dinner. We were thrilled to try samples of their fresh, organic menu. We started with fresh hummus served with hot peta bread, sampled the Turkey Ruebun panni, Greek salad, quiche trout with aspagrus, crab cakes with thousand island dressing and capers, celery root soup, apple grannysmith parmessan onion salad and a “to die for” chocolate mousse. To top it off, there was a wine tasting that evening as well. Verde is just another little gem to be discovered!
Back on the farm
After settling into the B&B, the evening was spent chatting about movies, social media, plans for the future and whatnot. We finally called it a night when a waving porch flag got our imaginations working overtime. Cheryl poetically tweeted: In the dark of night (& haze of wine) our charming B&B has turned into a haunted mansion 
@cbusimpressions @kellygingery @tiffanyeckhardt 11:02 PM
The Dawn
We were awakened to a beautiful sunrise and the aroma of breakfast cooking. The morning also revealed Tiffany the winner of a friendly competition between herself and Cheryl for foursquare mayorship of the Hopkins House. (Winning by five minutes) Breakfast was served using ingredients from local merchants, such as the coffee, eggs, herbs and sausage. A perfect farm-like breakfast!
First successful mission
The Weekend Retweats First Successful Mission: The Hopkins House and Verde will be hard to top. Weekend Retweat already has a couple destinations in mind. There is so much to do in Central Ohio. We’ll just have to retweat it one weekend at a time.
(Maybe next time Bos will be invited)
