This year we enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July in Seward. Although the town normally has over 6,000 people, normally 35,000 to 40,000 people come to town for the occasion. One lodging option is the Seward Liberty House Bed & Breakfast. During this 4th of July, this beautiful home served an official purpose. This is a bit of explanation about the unusual “Bachelor Officers Quarters.
Seward Liberty House Press Release
The Liberty House Bed & Breakfast will become Bachelor Officer Quarters Number One from Sunday, July 1st to Thursday, July 5th. The BOQ#1 will be home to General John “Black Jack” Pershing (Dave Shuey), General George S. Patton (Gib Buckbee), and President Theodore Roosevelt (Josef Otmar). A vintage BOQ sign was created by Ron Burhoop and painted by Ginny Koranda. On a military post, the commanding general occupies the honored housing billet of “Bachelor Officer Quarters Number One”.
The Liberty House Bed and Breakfast is the old Goehner House. It was built in 1889. The Goehners were instrumental in bringing the railroad to town. They owned several downtown business enterprises. They helped start up Concordia College. The front porch of the house was added later for the only daughter’s 16th birthday. In 2002, Pat Coldiron purchased the house and named it “Liberty House” in honor of the patriotic theme of Seward.
During the Chautauqua 2017 in Seward, General Pershing stayed at the Liberty House Bed and Breakfast. He reported how much he loved the billets and the nice people of Seward and wished to return and visit. Cattle Bank and Trust is sponsoring the general for days here in Seward. He will have a chance to ride and stable his horse at the BOQ on his visit.
Seward Liberty House Antiques and Gifts
The historical aspects are definitely fascinating. While sometime I hope to give you a “tour” of this beautiful home, today I want to focus more on the 2nd half of the name. Over half of the first floor displays all kinds of antiques and gifts.
If you like the possibility of a good find, the Seward Liberty House is definitely a place that you will want to visit. From candles to collectibles to display pieces, the possibilities seem endless. With its patriotic name, this shop does contain many flags, stars and red, white and blues items. Especially during this time of year.
Unlike many antique stores with lofty prices, this shop has a wide range of offerings. Several rooms are full from floor to ceiling with an assortment of items. You should prepare to spend a bit of time investigating and rummaging to locate your perfect finds.
Seward Liberty House and Odyssey Through Nebraska Giveaway.
In honor of my 5th year blogiversary, we are again having giveaways. For our first one, we are passing on a quality dish towel featuring Nebraska courtesy of this blog and the Liberty House. This is the type of towel that I often look at longingly in the store. The gingham checked heavy duty towel might even make dishes fun to do.
To win, all you need to do is comment on how you celebrated the 4th of July of this year. Or you can tell about one of your favorite celebrations from years past. I will announce the winner on Facebook the end of next week.
Author: neodyssey
My name is Gretchen Garrison. I started this blog about Nebraska in 2013. So far, I have written three books about Nebraska and Lincoln.
We celebrated by going to our neighborhood parade. The kids were so proud to ride their bikes in the parade without training wheels for the first time this year!
We spent an overnight at a hotel for family time!
We celebrated by swimming at star city shores…we also did fireworks the weekend before at our friends liberty picnic.
We spent time with cherished friends and family and ended the day watching fireworks with our neighbors!💙
We celebrated by helping out with our neighborhood parade then having a neighbors and family over to shoot off some fireworks!
These all sound like great celebrations! Thanks for sharing!