Sisters Judy Scott, left, and Barbara Wright are trying to sell the Union House. An open house will be held Aug. 9-11. (Leader photos/RACHEL BREDEN)

Barbara Wright and Judy Scott have been living their dream. As owners of the Union House Bed and Breakfast the sisters have been fulfilling a dream of theirs to run such an establishment.

Unfortunately, the sisters were forced to close the Union House early this year and set that dream aside after Wright was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“We originally bought it with the purpose of turning it into a bed and breakfast. The people who owned it before never ran it as a bed and breakfast; they did repairs and fixed it up but the wife was allergic to people—hairspray, perfume and that kind of thing,” Wright said.

The Union House was built in the mid 1800s on one of the first pieces of property settled in Mason Township and has changed hands a number of times before Wright and Scott bought it in 2001.

“I always say that angels brought us here,” Wright, who is from northern Michigan said. “We had no idea this place even existed. We came to visit an aunt and uncle in the area and they told us about it.”

Angels may have brought them to the Union House, but Wright said their website brought most of their visitors to them. Many of their clients come from the Chicago and Toledo areas, but they have also had international guests.

“We had a young couple come in from Germany because there was a big sale of kayaks in Bristol. They were going to move to Indianapolis and they came here to get kayaks so that they’d already have them when they move over here,” Wright said. “They found us through the website.”

But it was guests like the German couple that made running the bed and breakfast so enjoyable to Wright.

“We’ve met a lot of great people. We still have a lot of great friends we visit when we’re in their area and they visit us in when they are in ours,” Wright said.

The process of closing the Union House has not been easy for Wright and Scott who have been running the business for the last 11 years.

“It’s sad for us because it’s been a dream for us and now we have to set it aside for other things,” Wright said.

“We certainly enjoyed living in this community; the people in Union and surrounding community have been very gracious introducing us to people and helping us get this place off the ground and getting us customers,” Wright said. “We want to thank the local community for all their support and all their help in the 13 years we’ve been here. They’ve been more like family than anything else.”

The sisters have the house up for sale and are marketing it as a residential house, commercial building, and a bed and breakfast, but they would prefer it continue as a bed and breakfast.

“We hope someone buys it as a bed and breakfast so it can grow,” Wright said. “It was a hobby; we could have made a lot more money than we did, but we kept [prices] low so that people could enjoy different things in the area. We hate to see all our hard work go down the drain.”

The Union House Bed and Breakfast will be open to the public at its open house on Aug. 9-11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.