Monday, June 3, 2013

Belvoir Winery

 Welcome to Belvoir Winery, located outside Liberty MissouRAH on 170 sprawling acres.  The approach and drive up to the winery in grandness in itself.  If grandness isn't a word, I'm making it one, because that is the only way to describe the drive in.  There was a wedding to be had later in the day. I was daydreaming about the bride, walking down the terraced steps down to the fountain and gazebo. Chairs were set up and a huge tent awaiting for the festivities to begin.
This sweet angel greets you as you walk into the winery.
Beautiful stained glass flanks each side of the tasting bar.

Beautiful rooms that have been lovingly restored by the current owners.

A skeleton.....WAIT A MINUTE..... "A SKELETON?!?!?!?!"  Yes, meet "GEORGE".  He was a resident when the winery used to be an Odd Fellow Home.  Basically a non-for-profit home that operated for years on the property.  George wanted his body donated to science and then asked that he be "returned' to the place he had such loving memories.

 If you are interested, you can go on Wikipedia to read about the Odd Fellows.  Remarkable good works that they did for people and the Winery had a nice little museum with items on display, along with other items found during some of the renovations.
Majestic pictures that look like they should be in a museum in France.

Wanted to give you a sense of the grandeur of the hallways, just beautiful views through every room.

An original chandelier recovered and on display.  One can only image when the building was originally erected in the 1800's as the Reeds Springs Hotel, what the building used to look like back in the day.  There are curative mineral springs that brought an international crowd to visit and take in the waters.

Okay, now for the fun stuff....Over building number #2 which has NOT been restored, there were a group of birds circling overhead.  I think they were turkey vultures, Dan kept disputing me. Turns out this is the building that was the MORTURARY.  Oh, did I tell you that my co-worker planted the seed for us to visit the winery because she went on a HAUNTED TOUR?!?!? Oh, did I leave out the little fact? Read on....

 There are several other buildings next to the winery building.  You can imagine what it looked like in years gone past, but with overgrowth, and broken windows, weathering, some of the buildings look...well a little creepy.
This looks like at one time to have been a beautiful pergola on an upstairs porch.  NOW back to the wine tasting....as we were enjoying going through the whites and red offered, we struck up conversation with the bartender.  Dan just flat out asked if she had seen any ghost.  She said she hadn't but has HEARD things.  One day just when they opened the doors for business and no one had yet arrived, they heard footsteps on the floor above.  Another day she was working in her office and was the only one there, and heard the distinct sound of a women in heels walking down the hall with a key ring on her hip.  She went out to greet the "customer" and no one was there.  Positive she heard footsteps, she assumed they must have gone to the tasting room, and again as she went into the room, no one there.  On that juicy note we found out that the Ghost Hunters show is airing an episode on Wednesday, June 26th.  As the t-shirts in the gift shop say "Come get your wine and SPIRITS at Belvoir Winery".

7 comments:

Melinda said...

Oooh, what a fun trip!
I used to drive by here all the time to visit Liberty and friends
in NKC.
Ken and I love the ghost Hunters show and are looking forward to their new season!

:)

Jules said...

Sounds like a nice trip.... Literally! Nice to learn the history of building and people not to mention enjoying wine!

Belvoir Winery said...

Thanks for the blog post about our winery, Nancy! Glad to see you had a great experience. I've linked out your post on our Facebook page for our Facebook friends.

Jesse Leimkuehler
CEO, Belvoir Winery

{Bellamere Cottage} said...

I'll pass on the "spirits" but would love to see this beautiful, old place...

Blessings,
Spencer

Jill said...

I feel fortunate to live in a community that offers such unique shopping, dining and events.
Wonderful blog.
Warmly,
Jill McDowell
Bittersweet Soap Co.

Leslie said...

What a great place!!! It would be fun ( after a few glasses of wine) to creep around in those old buildings. T.)

Balista said...

this winery is so beautiful that i am planning to visit next month.
Led Lures

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