WILTON — A historic home on Prospect Street is the proposed site for a bed and breakfast.

The Planning Board will consider a permit request submitted by Anita Wright when it meets at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, at the town office.

“It’s just a wonderful old house,” Wright said. It was built for the founder of Bass Shoe, George Henry Bass, in 1890.

A contractor lived there more than two years doing custom woodwork before the family moved in, she said. She described the beautiful hardwood floors, doors and trims in the three-story, eight-bedroom home set on three acres at 19 Prospect St.

The Bass Hill Bed and Breakfast would open later this month, if local and state licensing is completed, she said.

This is a new venture for Wright, who said she loves cooking and entertaining. When friends and family have visited since she moved there in February, they convinced her she should share it. They even gave her reservations for next year’s Blueberry Festival, she said.

Originally from Arkansas, Wright and her husband came to Maine in 1981, and lived in Farmington while he worked at Madison Paper Co. until 1994. They returned to Arkansas where she lost her husband seven years ago, she said.

She missed Maine, she said. She wanted to see the fall leaves and feel the fresh cool air after a hot summer last year in the South. A master-gardener, tending her flower beds in Arkansas wasn’t fun after poisonous snakes were found in the yard, she said.

So she came and stayed a couple months last fall while looking for a home on the lake that her four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren wanted her to buy.

Her daughter suggested looking at the Prospect Street home and once she walked in the front door, she fell in love, she said.

“It’s a fabulous house. It has a beautiful foyer with crown moldings over a foot wide, two parlors, six fireplaces,” she said. She plans to use only four of the eight bedrooms to lease for the bed and breakfast.

Family members came this summer to help strip wallpaper and paint. A lot has been done on the inside with more work needed outside, she said.

Currently she’s installing smoke alarms and completing work to obtain town and state licensing, including the application before the local Planning Board.

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