A focus on Photography
By Dennis McCann (3-17-2007)

Long before she moved to the spectacular hill outside Spring Green to build a bed and breakfast inn, Jean Langer had earned a degree in photography, taught photography and directed galleries where photography and other forms of art were featured. So it was not surprising when designing the 10 guest room log B&B called the Silver Star B&B Inn that photography would be the overarching theme, and the point where decorating began.

While the log structure would have fit such a look, she said she didn't want a house filled with “dead animal heads.” By reflecting her own interest, the inn instead “would be unlike any other B&B,”

Thus, Silver ( the name comes from silver halide, a key component in the processing of film) is something of a gallery in it’s own right. Walls everywhere feature works by Langer or other photographers, along with art she collected decades ago while running her own gallery in Madison. Antique cameras and related collectables are displayed on the lower level, and the long hallway that connects the inn rooms on the second level are lined with old wedding photos Langer collected.

All rooms are named for famous photographers or those responsible for significant developments, to finally use the unavoidable groaner, in the history of photography. I stayed, for example, in the Stieglitz/Steichen room, named for Alfred Stieglitz and the Milwaukee– raised Edward Steichen, who were seminal figures in the industry a century ago. Other rooms include the Eastman Room, The Brady Room after the ground breaking Civil War Photographer), the Aperture and the F64.

Unlike at Earth Rider, where bikers dominate the guest list, photographers do not seek out then Silver Star. Most of her guests, Langer said, come from mid-June through mid-October to take in performances at American Players Theatre (about 9 miles away) or to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s former home and studio at Taliesin. The inn specializes in quiet stays; there are no telephones or televisions in the rooms, but such technology would be superfluous anyway. The views of the hills and valleys from the top of the 340-acre site should be enough to inspire guests to take up cameras and make their own art.