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By Don Kruse
Courtesy of the Spring 2004 Hermann Visitor
Bringing back yesterday in the
old family farm house is what spurred Eddie LaBoube to restore the inside
of the home where he grew up. And it wasn't because he wanted to live
there again, although he likes to reminisce of his
boyhood days when he sits in the kitchen and peers out of a window. The
reason for the renovation was to create a guest house to be enjoyed the
way LaBoube remembered it as a young farm boy.
Now, LaBoube Farms Guest
House, 5 miles southeast of Hermann, is one of the
most unique places in the area to spend a getaway.
Situated on Highway H in the
rolling hills of the Little Berger area, LaBoube Farms offers a quiet,
peaceful place in the country.
What you get when you stay at
the farm, is the farm -- the entire farm house
and views in every direction that tells you there is still farming going on here. LaBoube
has a small herd of cattle grazing in the field between the house and
Little Berger Creek. If you stay there in the summer, you'll catch the
smell of a fresh-cut hayfield.
Guests can walk down to the
creek and catch tadpoles, build a fire to roast marshmallows and hot dogs,
or sit under an overhang that extends off of a barn where an aggregate
rock floor now covers up dirt where a horse stable
kept animals dry.
 2004 marks the 100th year the
farm has been in the LaBoube family. Eddie's great-grandfather bought it
in 1904, and several generations have grown up on the family farm.
A few years ago after Harvey
LaBoube (Eddie's father) died, the house was remodeled into a comfortable
guesthouse. When they started tearing out drop ceilings, plaster board
walls and linoleum floor coverings, LaBoube knew he had something special.
The home now features exposed
hand-hewn log walls, hardwood floors and a wainscot board ceiling, all
from what was an original log house. The logs for the home were most
likely harvested right on the farm, typical German work like the homes in
the Hermann area.
"This place must date back to the mid-1800s," said LaBoube, who has
enjoyed
bringing back the original features of a home where he and his sisters
grew up.
"We just opened it up and restored the house to its original 1800s decor,"
LaBoube said. "We didn't know the original structure was a log cabin."
LaBoube Farms Guest House has
an enclosed porch on the front, a stable for guests who bring their own
horses, and there's plenty of room to roam and explore. You can hike down
to the creek and up a hillside to catch a view of the farm. Nature is all
around, and the LaBoube Farm brochure notes this with the teaser: "When
was the last time you woke to the sound of song birds instead of an alarm
clock, or drifted off to sleep to the lullaby of tree frogs and crickets?"
Or, if you'd like to, take a
nap under a shade tree.
The three-bedroom guest house
(two up, one down) features old oak floors, and there are antique
furnishings throughout the house.
Of course, there are modern
amenities, too, like a microwave, refrigerator and stove in the kitchen
with plenty of dishes and dinnerware.
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A Family Farm
Since 1904
LaBoube
Farm is located five miles southeast of historic Hermann,
Missouri, a community founded in the mid-1800s by German immigrants
who dreamed of a New World utopia that would be "German in every
particular." But there were French settlers, too, among them the LaBoube family.
In
1904, Frank LaBoube purchased a farm in an area known as Little
Berger. Little Berger Creek, which runs through the property, was an
important source of water for cattle and gravel for road building.
Several generations have grown up on the family farm. The original
post-Civil War farmhouse has been respectfully remodeled into a
comfortable guesthouse where exposed hand-hewn log walls and
original hardwood floors complement modern amenities. |
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