We're highlighting packages at six B&Bs, but they aren't the only ones commemorating Black History Month. For a complete list of participants — and deals on B&Bs worldwide — visit BedandBreakfast.com.
Springfield, Mass.
Lathrop House, an 1899 Victorian home, offers a rose garden, a handful of rooms decorated in florals, and shared bathrooms. It's located in Springfield's historic Forest Park district and is about a 30-minute drive from the Connecticut Freedom Trail, a series of Underground Railroad safe houses and sites connected to the “Amistad” case. The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Conn., is also within an easy drive. Guests who stay at the Lathrop during Black History Month will receive a choice of a complimentary second night's stay or a second room; plus, show proof of visiting either the Freedom Trail or Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and receive an additional 20 percent discount. Rates start at $100 per room for the first night — with the second night free, it's just $50 per room per night.
When: Feb. 1-29, 2008; 20 percent discount good throughout 2008.
Details: Based on double occupancy. Taxes and breakfast daily are included.
Contact: 413/736-6414, dianamarahenry.com/lathrop.
Gettysburg, Penn.
The Passages Inn, a renovated pre-Civil War home with three rooms furnished with quilts and antiques, is offering a two-night Freedom package. It includes a sightseeing tour of Gettysburg for two and two tickets for the Freedom Lies Just North tour of Underground Railroad stops in rural Adams County's Quaker Valley, led by historian Debra McCauslin (valued at $30). Passages is located right near Lincoln Cemetery, where 30 black soldiers who fought for the Union Army are buried. The package rate is $170 per couple.
When: Feb. 1-29, 2008.
Details: Based on double occupancy. Taxes are an additional 9 percent. Breakfast daily is included.
Contact: 717/334-7010, passagesinngettysburg.com.
Cambridge, Md.
The six rooms at the Queen Anne-style Cambridge House, owned by a husband-and-wife team, have refined touches like hardwood floors, claw-foot tubs, fireplaces, and four-poster beds. The B&B is in Cambridge's historic district, near Long Wharf Marina and several sites related to African-American history: the Harriet Tubman Museum; the Bazzel Methodist Church, where Tubman's family worshipped; the Stanley Institute (a 19th-century schoolhouse), and Underground Railroad trails winding through Dochester and Caroline counties. Rates start at $125 per room per night for a queen-size bed and at $150 for a king-size bed. Throughout February, any guests who stay two nights will receive complimentary fresh flowers in a vase and a box of chocolates (valued at $40).
When: Ongoing.
Details: Based on double occupancy. Taxes are an additional 11 percent. Breakfast daily is included.
Contact: 410/221-7700, cambridgehousebandb.com.
Bellevue, Ky.
Three-room Christopher's B&B, a former 1880s Christian church, is offering a package with a one-night stay in the Loretta or Beverly Rose junior Jacuzzi room and two adult tickets (valued at $24) to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, just about a mile north of the B&B. Harriet Beecher Stowe House, where the author of “Uncle Tom's Cabin” lived prior to her marriage, is also located in Cincinnati. The Heritage Village Museum and the Newport Aquarium are among other area attractions. Package rates start at $135 per room, and additional nights can be added for $105 per room per night.
When: Through 2008.
Details: Based on double occupancy. Taxes are an additional 11.125 percent. Breakfast daily is included.
Contact: 888/585-7085, christophersbb.com.
Saint Johnsville, N.Y.
A collection of 19th-century buildings — a barn, a carriage house, a hog house, and a stone grist mill — make up the Inn by the Mill, located by Timmerman Creek in upstate New York. The mill was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. It has three secret rooms below the basement floor, and at night the water to the 30-foot waterwheel would be shut off to allow fugitive slaves to pass through the 1,000-foot-long water tunnel. Cooperstown's National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Glimmerglass Opera are just to the south. Rates at the inn start at $150 per room per night.
When: Ongoing.
Details: Based on double occupancy. Taxes are an additional 12 percent. Breakfast daily and an unlimited supply of dessert are included.
Contact: 866/ 568-2388, innbythemill.com.
Bois Blanc Island, Mich.
The innkeepers at Insel Haus produced and directed the Emmy-winning film “Heritage in Black,” which the Department of Defense uses in its race-relations courses. During February, the inn's Heritage in Black package features a private screening of the film, two nights' accommodations, breakfast and family-style lunches and dinners daily, and a 10-minute flight on the small commercial carrier Great Lights Air between either Cheboygan or St. Ignace, Mich., and Bois Blanc Island (two round-trip flights valued at $90). Insel Haus's secluded location in the Straits of Mackinac, an entry-point to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, adds to the charm of antique-filled Insel Haus, which has a library; a living room with 10-foot-high ceilings, stained glass, and a fireplace; and a pristine forest and shoreline just outside the door. Package rates are $580 per person.
When: Feb. 1-29, 2008.
Details: Based on double occupancy. Taxes and all meals are included.
Contact: 888/634-7393, inselhausbandb.com.
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