LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – After 31 years, the founders of the Woodrow House Bed and Breakfast are retiring and passing ownership to a couple with deep ties to the property.
Dawn and David Fleming, who opened the bed and breakfast in 1995, have handed operations to D’Ann and Bo Wells. D’Ann Wells was a childhood friend of the Flemings’ daughter, Paige, and had been a frequent visitor of the property over the years.
The Flemings met at Texas Tech in 1983 and married two years later. Dawn Fleming said she wanted to contribute financially while also caring for their children at home. A 1991 stop at a bed and breakfast during a trip to Tennessee gave them the idea.
“When we got back in the car, I kinda looked at David and he looked at me and was like are you thinking what I’m thinking? And he’s like, I’m thinking probably so,” Dawn Fleming said.
The next four years involved finding a location, developing a site plan and building the property — without the aid of the internet. The Woodrow House Bed and Breakfast opened to the public in 1995.
David Fleming said the goal from the start was to create a welcoming atmosphere for guests.
“We wanted to make sure it felt like home or felt like going to uncle Bob’s, kick off your shoes, come on down, you know y’all get settled down and then have a glass of wine with us or something,” David Fleming said.
Over 31 years, visitors from around the world stayed at the property. Dawn Fleming said the shared breakfast table became a place of connection.
“I call it my college of knowledge. You sit down with guests, you find out why they’re here. A lot of times they’re visiting the university, do some speaking on some topic and so you start to ask about the topic and learn some things. It’s great,” Dawn Fleming said.
The property also features a caboose, added a few years after opening. David Fleming said the addition was not immediately embraced by his wife.
“Why don’t you come out here and look at this caboose we’re gonna buy, and she’s like no, we’re not gonna buy this caboose. No we have to, it’s on the site plan,” David Fleming said.
D’Ann Wells said the idea of taking over the bed and breakfast came to her during a family vacation last year as she and her husband discussed their next chapter.
“As we were talking about dreaming the next arc of our lives like what can we do, what do we want to do just driving through the landscape, I told Bo I’d really love to find something like the bed and breakfast,” D’Ann Wells said.
A phone call to Dawn Fleming shortly after made it official. Bo Wells said he intends to preserve what the Flemings built while adding his own approach.
“I see the love that Dawn and David poured into this place, it’s just incredible. Now that we’re taking over, I wanna maintain that but our own spin on it and I just see a lot of opportunity, so I’m grateful for that,” Bo Wells said. “Our hope would be that the next chapter for this house outgrows us and that it stays occupied and busy and we have to keep trying new things and think outside the box just like they did.”
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