ABOUT US

Meet Your Hosts!

Our hosting journey began in 2013 with a loft above our garage and a recommendation to list it on Airbnb. We literally said “What’s Airbnb?” and then we stumbled through our first year of hosting. As our bookings continued to grow, so did we. Within a few years we were hosting and sharing three separate spaces on our property. Hosting kept growing on us and Robert kept talking about building an "Old West Town" of vacation rentals and how he thought people would just love that. In the summer of 2018 we closed on the purchase of the property for that little old west town. We went straight to work getting the trailer house removed so that we could submit our plans and apply for all the necessary permits to build Fort Williamson.

By early spring of 2019 we had received approval for our project and Robert immediately broke ground installing all the infrastructure. It wasn't long before we realized it was gonna take a bit more than we had planned budget wise and came to the conclusion that we had two choices: 1. We were only going to be able to build one cabin a year for the next five years or 2. We could sell our house and build them all at once. Well we listed and sold our house that summer as Robert pushed forward with building. Our goal was to have them finished and ready for the summer of 2020. By fall of 2019 we had completed all the out-buildings and our first cabin was done. In December that winter we broke ground on the final 4 cabins, as  Robert was determined to keep the project on schedule. He even managed to do that through the Covid 19 pandemic outbreak in spring of 2020, if anything the pandemic made us hurry up and finish before all the supplies disappeared. 

Throughout the Spring of 2020 we shopped a lot gathering up the items to furnish and decorate the 5 different cabins. This was probably one of the most fun parts of building Fort Williamson because if it fit the theme we bought it. For the Sheriff Jail we even had a custom Jail Cell fabricated and made so you will actually sleep in the cell. The civil war art, brick walls, and railroad decor really makes this cell! Rose's Place is our Wedding/Honeymoon cabin and named after Robert's mom. Rose's is all about the glitz and the glam. Don't miss the black and white photo of Robert’s grandma on the San Francisco beach in the 1920's pointing a gun at the photographer, a true Madam. Swing on into Joe's Saloon which is named after Robert's dad who loved to go out singing and honky tonk'n back in the day, so naming this one after him was only fitting. Instead of letting Joe's stuff sit packed away in a box we used it, his hats, neck ties, records, and guitars throughout the room. Madam Woman's Inn is our Hotel of the property. This one is named after Jennifer's mom Debby, who somehow acquired the nickname Woman over the years from all of us. Since Debby and Kim's log home on the river has always had that homey lodge feeling to us, we went and set up Madam Woman's Inn to have that Montana lodge feeling too. You'll find a print of Debby's oil painting of the red buses on the Going To Sun Road and several antiques she has passed on to us in this room. Kim's Trading Post is our couples retreat and the only one with a private hot tub. Kim's is named after Jennifer's dad since he is the craftsman and gold minor of the family. All the barn wood furniture and picture frames throughout Fort Williamson were handcrafted and built by Jennifer's dad.

By June of 2020 we had finished Fort Williamson and we were ready to begin hosting. Not everyone hosts like we do, we are hands-on hosts that can typically be found somewhere onsite or nearby. Being born and raised here Jennifer has all the local knowledge you’ll need. Our favorite summer nights are those that we get to spend around the campfire sharing stories and having smores with our guests. We are an outdoorsy couple who love to use our side by side, hike, bike, or kayak, anything to enjoy the great Montana outdoors.