The Life in Business: Shipman House Bed and Breakfast

What is now the Shipman House Bed and Breakfast Inn has been in Barbara Andersen’s [Shipman] family since 1901. Seventeen years ago, when she returned to her childhood home of Hilo, she says the house “looked like the movie set for a haunted house, both inside and out, and the jungle was taking over outside.” The rest of the extended Shipman family was deciding to sell it, and Barbara couldn’t bear to let it go, so she bought it.

“I had wanted to have a bed and breakfast for years, and even took a series of entrepreneurship classes at a junior college [in California]. The house is perfect as a B&B. Of course, being on the National Register and State Historic Register meant there were rules and restrictions for renovating the buildings, and I had to write an Environmental Assessment before it could be a bed and breakfast. We re-wired, re-plumbed, repaved, re-roofed, built new bathrooms and kitchen, painted and repaired. My husband and his friend cleared jungle to the motto, ‘One vine at a time’, and the vegetation continues to grow.”

Barbara is part Hawaiian, born in Hilo to an old kama‘aina family. Her great-grandmother was a childhood playmate of Princess Likelike, mother of Princess Ka‘iulani and sister of both Queen Lili‘uokalani and King Kalakaua. The Queen considered her a ‘dear friend’, and visited her at this house after the queen was overthrown and released from house arrest.

A unique house, it presents guests with the opportunity to step back in time to experience a special Hawai‘i of 100 years ago in a home that has many of its original furnishings, hosted by descendants of the same family that owned it a century ago.

“The fourth or fifth generation to live in the house, we are pretty knowledgeable about the area,” she says. “Guests are welcome to wander our gardens, with their mature trees and native vegetation…like houseplants on steroids! Many people think it rains all the time in Hilo. But most of our rain falls at night. The benefits are in the beautiful flowers, lush green botanical gardens, rainbows, waterfalls, breathtaking scenery, and cooler weather.”

After years of hearing guests ask to buy the macadamia nut granola served at Shipman House, the Hawaiian Granola Company is planning to market it, both in stores and online.

Shipman House
131 Ka‘iulani St. in Hilo.
Phone: (808) 934-8002
Website: http://www.hilo-hawaii.com