TWO STONE FIREPLACES at opposite ends of Bear Mountain Lodge’s great room invite guests to linger in the historic 1928 building, set on the edge of the expansive Gila Wilderness. The Silver City lodge has served as a cattle ranch, a school, a dude ranch, and a country club and hotel famous for Sunday chicken dinners. Linda Brewer, who owns Silver City’s Blue Dome Gallery and curated the lodge’s artwork when it was operated by the Nature Conservancy, bought Bear Mountain with six friends in 2009. Today, local art frames the fireplaces where guests happily unwind with Mui Mui, the resident black cat, after a day of hiking and bird-watching.
THERE’S SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL about sitting in front of a fire.
IT’S SOMETHING IN OUR DNA that makes us love to watch the flames and feel the warmth. It brings us back to an earlier time in human existence.
IT’S ALWAYS GRATIFYING in the winter when I’ll come into the great room and people are curled up on the couch, in front of the fire, reading or playing Scrabble and other games.
WE BURN OAK, fir, and piñon, because piñon is the smell of New Mexico.
I WAS A FULL-TIME POTTER long before I became an inn owner.
WE ALWAYS HAVE original work by local artists around the fireplaces, and it just sings.
PEOPLE WALK THROUGH the door, and they say, “Oh my goodness.”
DURING THE HOLIDAYS, we decorate the fireplace mantels with garlands, pine cones, and juniper boughs from the property.
OUR ORNAMENT COLLECTION dates back 15 years. We have two trees in the great room. It’s homey and rustic.
USUALLY, we do a big Christmas Eve with real luminarias. They cover the roofline, portals, and the entire driveway. People reserve the two spots in front of the fireplace to savor our green chile posole.
OUR RECIPE IS in our Bear Mountain Lodge Cookbook, which just won the New Mexico–Arizona Book Award for Best Cookbook.