If you’re going to work a retirement job, running a bed and breakfast in the US Virgin Islands might be tough to beat. From the white sand and turquoise waters to the interesting conversations with guests from all over the world, it’s worked out pretty well for Nancy Louis (LA’76).
“I wanted a beach house,” says Louis. “I didn’t care where. But my husband, John, said it had to be the United States, so that’s how we ended up here.”
Louis, who made use of her sociology degree working in nonprofits for a while, went into the restaurant business with her husband nearly 30 years ago. The St. Louis residents kept their Missouri home but ran a dinner theater in Atlanta for more than a decade before selling it in search of a tropical escape. The change has allowed not only the freedom of a simpler way of life Louis calls “island time,” but the ability to stretch her creative and culinary talents in service of her guests.
Sandy Carroll, a longtime guest who has visited Garden by the Sea on St. John almost annually for the last 10 years, says Louis has created an oasis among the palms that calls to her. “I always feel like I’m going back home,” says the Boston, Massachusetts, retiree. “Nancy is very smart and very artistic. She can make anything.”
Outside the brightly painted three-bedroom B&B, her driftwood and hand-tumbled sea glass wind chimes tinkle softly in the salty breeze.
Louis has used her penchant for recycling and artistry to tumble colored glass that she repurposes in aquatic mosaics in the flooring and pool. Outside the brightly painted three-bedroom B&B, her driftwood and hand-tumbled sea glass wind chimes tinkle softly in the salty breeze.
“I did the headboard behind one of the beds out of tumbled glass and tile,” she says. “I did the mosaics of the local birds and fish. I can’t draw, but I love creating.”
She also enjoys bringing people together over breakfasts and dinners on the wraparound patio. Check the more than 140 “excellent” reviews on TripAdvisor for the B&B, and you’ll find most mention the food Louis prepares.
“People write in about the menus,” says Louis, who draws inspiration and ingredients from the islands, as well as her homes in St. Louis and Maine. “The piña colada French toast or the eggs Benedict, that type of thing. I bring back a whole cooler of Maine blueberries for the year.”
Louis and her husband expect to retire for real soon. They’ve put the bed and breakfast up for sale, but plan to keep one of their additional homes on the island when the time comes. “We will still be here part of the year,” she says. “It’s too beautiful.”