Note: Joan Bauman owner of Lamplight Bed and Breakfast, 321 S. Main St., has announced her retirement from her business as of May 31. The following story was written in September for the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce weekly newsletter about the B&B. Its author is Angela Green, BGSU journalism intern for the chamber last fall.

By Angela Green
Joan Bauman has lived and traveled all over the world, and has seen many bed and breakfasts. Now that she has her own bed and breakfast, Lamplight Bed and Breakfast at 321 S. Main St., Bauman gets to host travelers from all over the United States and the world. She's hosted visitors from South Africa, Azerbaijan, several countries in Europe, and even had someone stay who was affiliated with the Smithsonian Museum.

Before she opened Lamplight just over 10 years ago, Bauman was a teacher.
She started in Hough near Cleveland, where she never had less than 40 children.

Then she taught just a few weeks in Nigeria, six months in Streetsborough, and then taught fourth, first and third grades for 26 years at Cory-Rawson.
"We lived in Europe for about three years," she said. "There are plenty of bed and breakfasts there. Every one is different. Sometimes we'd have to wait until the family finished with something, or wait until they got out of the bathroom to use it. Every one is unique."

Bauman does not know when the house where she lives and operates her business was built, but believes it is part of the Eaton development that was built in the 1890s. Guests can stay in two bedrooms upstairs, found past a long flight of stairs and a panda bear-themed bathroom.

Every high-ceilinged room is beautifully furnished, including the living rooms, dining room and kitchen downstairs and the two bedrooms, a television room and two bathrooms upstairs.

"You can't say my bed and breakfast is like everyone else's," she said, "because it's not."

Something else unique about the Lamplight is Bauman's picture book of guests. "Using my old Polaroid camera, I take a picture of everyone who stays here," she said. "One of my first graders who had grown up and stayed here suggested it."

Among the Polaroids of travelers and words of appreciation to Bauman, other
guests can learn about the diversity of people who have stayed at the bed and
breakfast.

"I like meeting different people with their own walks of life and views," said
Bauman. "I just grow from that. People were just here for a trapper convention in Joan Bauman of Lamplight Bed and Breakfast Lima. I've never even heard of that. I've learned so much from people who stay here, it's exciting."

While staying at the Lamplight, guests like to learn about Bluffton.

"They like to walk the streets and see what the village is like," said Bauman.
"The streets are safe and they can walk to places like the Dari-Freeze and
Common Grounds."

Even thought the winter months are not as busy, Bauman is never sure when
people are planning to stay at the bed and breakfast.

"January is not as busy," she said. "I just never know, and that's what's really
nice about this. I can just say no. I don't have to report to the principal. I can
decide on my own. This July has been really busy. Most of my clientele have relatives who live on Vance Street or at the Mennonite Memorial Home, and they can come here and be close to their family."

Bauman also said, in her experience, if women are traveling alone they do not like to stay in hotels by themselves and a bed and breakfast gives them more comfort.

The price of staying at the Lamplight is also a comfort to guests.
"It's just $65 per room, with a little bit of tax," Bauman said. "I haven't changed it since I started because my brochures were made up with that. I don't really make a lot of profit. It's more for fun, I enjoy people."

While most guests are couples or singles, Bauman enjoys when a family stays
because she uses a high chair from when she was little for toddlers. The high
chair comes in handy during the breakfasts Bauman makes.

"The best breakfast I make uses a Martha Stewart pancake recipe," she said,
"and I can put more blueberries or chocolate in for kids. I also make Texas eggs. Nobody makes requests even though I always ask them."

Bauman gets most of her business by word of mouth or referrals by institutions like Mennonite Memorial Home and Bluffton University. The Lima Allen County Chamber of Commerce has a pamphlet that lists the Lamplight, and it is the only bed and breakfast listed in Allen County.

"You just don't find bed and breakfasts in large towns because of hotels," said Bauman. "I can't do this to make a living; it's just something I do in my old age."