Overview

The Wren's Nest (registered significant archeological site 20/ok/472) is a historical home that can trace its roots back to 1832, five years before the territory of Michigan became a state. Proprietor Irene Scheel has lived in this Greek-Revival-style house since 1960 and has preserved the history of the house's past and created much of her own. After raising her family of five children there, she turned her beautiful residence into a charming bed-and-breakfast filled with treasured antiques such as her 1890s music box, cozy quilts, beautiful linens, fine Havilland china and more. Research reveals that Samuel Coe, born in 1786 in New York, purchased the original 80 acres on which The Wren's Nest sits. The original clapboard house was home to Coe and his wife, Lucinda Gage, and their 10 children. The Coe family maintained ownership of the house until 1910. Scheel is the fourth owner of the home. She takes pride in keeping much of the land in its natural state, with wetlands and woodlands. She's added prize-winning perennial gardens, dozens of her originally-designed bird houses, herb and vegetable gardens and even her pet goats, which entertain guests young and old.