We Had So Much Fun in 2023!
We’ve been busy putting away decorations and putting The Newton to rights after all the really fun holiday events we hosted. We’ve reminisced about and reflected on 2023, and we’re busily planning for 2024. We were so thrilled with the events we made happen with you - the community get-togethers, the special occasions you shared with us, and getting to know our overnight guests! The Newton of Ypsilanti is not only a boutique inn, it is also a lovely event space and community gathering place. In 2023, we hosted family dinners, milestone birthday celebrations, intimate weddings, art exhibitions, card game nights, musical performances, retirement parties, workshops, cooking classes, and holiday parties. Let’s do it all again in 2024!
Happy 2024! We’ve been busy putting away decorations and putting The Newton to rights after all the really fun holiday events we hosted. We’ve reminisced about and reflected on 2023, and we’re busily planning for 2024. We were so thrilled with the events we made happen with you - the community get-togethers, the special occasions you shared with us, and getting to know our overnight guests! The Newton of Ypsilanti is not only a boutique inn, it is also a lovely event space and community gathering place. Our innkeeper is a talented and creative chef, so the meals are incredible! We have cooked and baked, salted, sauced, and plated to bring fantastic food to you. In 2023, we hosted family dinners, milestone birthday celebrations, intimate weddings, art exhibitions, card game nights, musical performances, retirement parties, workshops, cooking classes, and holiday parties.
We especially enjoy the Whole House rental events… You celebrate with your friends and loved ones, spend the night in our beautiful suites, and wake up to a gorgeous and delicious breakfast created just for you by Chef Allison! These events really make the most of the unique venue that is The Newton!
We love welcoming guests into this beautiful and historical home, and we love serving incredible food to you! We hope that The Newton has been a home away from home for you, and we can’t wait to do more of all of this with you in 2024!
Ho Ho Host Your Holiday at The Newton!
It is time, people, to plan your holiday events and gatherings. We LOVE the holidays, and we’d love to help make your event special and festive and delicious! Soon, The Newton’s halls will be decked, its fireplaces laid with logs, its kitchen bustling with baking and roasting, its porches twinkling, and a gorgeous tree will be filling the front window. Host your event in one of our beautiful spaces, spend a special weekend here, or give the gift of The Newton to someone you love! We’ve got it all covered!
Forgive the cringey title, but it is time, people, to begin planning your holiday events (I mean technically, it’s kind of late, but this is how I operate!). We LOVE the holidays, and we’d love to help make your event special and festive and delicious! Soon, The Newton’s halls will be decked, its fireplaces laid with logs, its kitchen bustling with baking and roasting, its porches twinkling, and a gorgeous tree will be filling the front window. Have your holiday party here, whether its an intimate family dinner, or a big fancy party! We’ve got you covered - Chef Allison and her team can craft a sumptuous meal, complete with special cocktails (or mocktails). Have a cozy party in our historical tavern! It has its own rustic tree and twinkle lights galore and an incredible fireplace!
A cozy holiday scene in our tavern, which was built in the 1800s.
Finally, consider giving someone you love or appreciate the gift of The Newton of Ypsilanti - a gift card can be applied to an overnight stay at this beautiful boutique inn, a special dinner, a cooking class, or one of our workshops or events! You really can’t go wrong, as The Newton has something for everyone. Give us a call or head to our website to find out more about this fantastic option for everyone on your list (maybe not the kids…).
Ypsilanti Bicentennial Historical Homes Tour: Come Celebrate With Us On August 20!
There are so many incredible things to love about Ypsilanti, and one of our favorites is the incredible architecture, and the abundance of spectacular old homes. Imagine the history and the drama that those homes have seen - so many families, so many lives playing out over hundreds of years! After a pandemic hiatus, the Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation is bringing back its Historical Homes Tour for the 43rd iteration on August 20, 2023.
Did you know that Ypsilanti has the third-largest historic district in the entire state of Michigan? It’s true! We have more stunning examples of 19th century architecture than your average city! Of course, there are countless homes outside of the historic district that exemplify period-specific architecture, but the historic district reflects Ypsilanti’s appreciation of the importance of preserving and maintaining our architectural gems.
There are so many things to love about Ypsilanti, and one of our favorites is the incredible architecture and the abundance of spectacular old homes. Imagine the history and the drama that those homes have seen - so many families, so many lives playing out over hundreds of years! After a pandemic hiatus, the Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation is bringing back its Historical Homes Tour for the 43rd iteration on August 20, 2023. The tour will be part of the extensive lineup of summer events celebrating Ypsilanti’s bicentennial anniversary.
Purchase a VIP ticket to come celebrate with us at The Newton after the historic homes tour! We’ll have delicious food and drinks in the beautiful courtyard.
This year’s tour will include several lovingly maintained homes along North Huron Street, ranging in age from 100 to 200 years old. Tickets will provide access to tour the exterior and interior of the homes, all of which have extensive original features. To make the event even more special, you can purchase a VIP ticket which includes a post-tour celebratory garden party in the stunning courtyard of The Newton of Ypsilanti. You’ll get to enjoy the delicious food and drinks of Chef (and Innkeeper) Allison Anastasio, and the historical expertise of our resident architect (and Innkeeper) Chuck Bultman.
The Newton isn’t part of the YHF Historical Homes Tour this year - access to the interior will be limited as Chef Allison and her team will be hard at work in the kitchen, and our overnight guests deserve some privacy. However, it was featured on the tour in 2001 and 2007, and you can see the lovely interior in the gallery on our website! The house was built in 1870 for Samuel Barnard (vice president of the Peninsular Paper Mill), and was purchased in 1917 by Charles Newton. Charles Newton was one of Henry Ford’s closest assistants and was instrumental in the procurement of many items in the Henry Ford Museum’s collections. Newton did extensive renovations to the house, including the additions of the dramatically columned porch, the courtyard in back, the kitchen, and the garage. He also added one of the inn’s most notable features by installing an incredible 18th century New England tavern in the basement.
The 18th c. tavern in The Newton’s basement
Though the house could technically be described as Neoclassical today, it bears many of the hallmark features of an Italianate structure, and it is built on Victorian bones (come to the party! Ask Chuck more about this!). Determining the building’s history is a forensic exercise in online and in-person research, community networking, and simply staring at the details of the house itself, trying to tease out evidence of long-ago and not-so-long-ago modifications! We love it!
Buy tickets for the house tour here! Stay with us for the Bicentennial Weekend (August 19-20) and immerse yourself in the history of it all - you can book rooms here!
Be sure to also mark your calendar for the 4th of July Parade, Bicentennial community picnic, and time capsule opening on July 4 at Riverside Park. There will be live music, food, and games!
Happy 200th Birthday, Ypsilanti! We are thrilled to be part of the city’s bicentennial celebrations!
Note: There is a free History Stroll along North Huron Street on Saturday August 19 with local historian and naturalist Stefan Szumko, if you would like to learn about many of these buildings from the sidewalk! The YHF Homes Tour on Sunday August 20 requires a ticket and includes access to the interior of the homes - we just don’t want to confuse anyone!
The March of the Morels (They’re Almost Here!)
No matter our politics, our beliefs, our values, our faith, there is at least one matter on which we can all agree: WE ALL LOVE MUSHROOMS. Right?! No? Many mushroom lovers really love mushrooms, though, and for an even smaller subset of people, the morel mushroom is just about the most exciting food in existence. The emergence of the morel heralds the coming of spring, and many Michigan foragers guard their morel hunting spots closely. Right around now, they’re beginning to check their secret spots for the first signs of the mushrooms, because once the heads are visible, there is a harvest window of only a few days.
No matter our politics, our beliefs, our values, our faith, there is at least one matter on which we can all agree: WE ALL LOVE MUSHROOMS. Right?! No? Okay, maybe not everyone - mushrooms are actually one of the most polarizing foods we eat, right up there with cilantro, smelly cheese, and olives. In our own cooking adventures, we have marveled at the near-surgical precision mushroom-haters can employ to extract mushrooms from a risotto or a soup. Many mushroom lovers really love mushrooms, though, and for an even smaller subset of people, the morel mushroom is just about the most exciting food in existence. The emergence of the morel heralds the coming of spring, and many Michigan foragers guard their morel hunting spots closely. Right around now, they’re beginning to check their secret spots for the first signs of the mushrooms, because once the heads are visible, there is a harvest window of only a few days. Skilled (and/or lucky) foragers can sell morels to chefs eager to put them on menus, but most morel hunters are just hoping to put morels on their own plates. Morels are notoriously difficult to cultivate, so for the most part, they are only available during their brief growing season (late-April to mid-June in Michigan). More than a few poems have been written about the morel, and they read like Victorian love poetry - morels are elusive, mysterious, shy, bashful, and precious gems whose beauty goes unnoticed by all but the fastidious few.
We are perched on the cusp of morel-hunting season here in southeast Michigan; there was a sighting just south of us earlier this week! If you want to give morel-hunting a try, check out some of the resources we have linked below. Morels are fairly distinctive looking, but there are a few toxic look-alike species which are generally lumped together as “false morels.” And be prepared to channel your inner criminal persona, as one writer described morel hunters thus:
“These are the… people who, if you come upon them in the forest, always look suspicious and paranoid, like someone waiting for a drug deal. They walk slowly through the pines, heads bent. When they see you they try to look casual, like they just happen to be taking a little stroll. Never mind the basket they carry or that funny, curved knife in their hands. They barely offer a wave before scooting off to a quieter part of the forest.”
Should you be so fortuitous as to find a morel or two (or even a patch!), you’ll find countless recipes for cooking them. We think that the best way to prepare them, though, is to simply sauté them with a little butter and salt, and eat them right out of the pan! It’s certainly not a complicated recipe, but it’s a shame to hide this mushroom’s flavor with elaborate preparations. If you do want to get a little fancy, the great chef and food writer J. Kenji López-Alt recommends a sauté with a few more ingredients that highlight the morel’s delicate earthiness. López-Alt’s recipe post also includes some excellent graphics if you’re not sure how to clean and trim your morels.
Let us know if you get lucky!
Resources and reading:
The Great Morel is a blog dedicated exclusively to the morel, and it has a sighting map that tracks the emergence of morels so that hunters can be prepared.
Modern Forager shares a great deal of information on foraging, including burn maps and gear lists. Kristen and Trent Blizzard’s book, Wild Mushrooms: A Cookbook and Foraging Guide, is a great resource!
The Michigan Mushroom Hunters Club shares information with beginners and hosts several public hunts to help hunters get started.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has lots of information on how and where to get started hunting.
The poem Morel Mushrooms by Jane Whitledge is just one of the morel mushroom genre.
Boyne City hosts the National Morel Mushroom Festival, which includes cooking contests, tastings, seminars, morel giveaways, and a competitive hunt. It takes place May 18-21, 2023.
MichiganMorels is a Facebook page where enthusiasts gather, but as previously mentioned, they are not likely to share specific locations.