Ep. 12: Becca and Christy Zendt- The Women of the Darius

Christy and Becca Zendt are charming people. They have such an easy-going, friendly vibe that it's easy to forget they are also successful business women who have recently breathed new life into an old Dodge Street building- rechristening it, The Darius Inn. Thirteen years ago Christy Zendt was traveling to Nova Scotia with a friend. They decided to check out Block Island. After three days on the island, Christy decided this was the place, so she stayed. She found work with Ann Law at the Blue Dory Inn as a chambermaid/jack (or Jane) of all trades. Two years later, Becca was working in Los Angeles. When she came back east to visit Christy on the island, she decided that she'd stay too. Thirteen years later the Zendt sisters are still here and are the owner/operators of The Darius Inn on Dodge Street.  Christy and Becca’s journey from scrubbing toilets in someone else’s inn to scrubbing toilets at their own inn is magical. With the help of many friends, somehow the renovations to the Darius were completed just in time to welcome their first guests. When they bought the inn the second floor was filled with "treasures" from the past. Mostly old chairs. Many yard sales later- some of the remaining antiquities discovered there have been repurposed and have found new life at the inn. And since they opened their B&B, the Darius has come to be known as THE place to stay for those seeking hospitality with a creative and friendly flair. We dive into the history of the Darius (pronounced "door-EYE-us") and learn about its chameleonic past. The building- known as The Gables Too at the time the sisters purchased it was originally built in the late 1600's as the DB Dodge Pharmacy. Log books discovered in the inn's storage room show purchase orders for cocaine and arsenic- two everyday drug store offerings back then. Over the years the building has served as the bank, a dentist's office, a law office and housed the island's telephone switchboard where operators had to memorize the phone book before being hired. Later on, we talk about the preponderance of women who own businesses on Dodge Street. Becca and Christy have found themselves part of an informal sisterhood known as, "The Dames of Dodge Street". Comprised of several other women owning businesses on Dodge Street this coincidental phenomenon leads us to an interesting discussion about whether or not the sisters faced any challenges opening their own business here based on their gender.  It would seem that anyone operating a business on Block Island would be too busy to have a "normal" life. And while the Zendt sisters are anything but "normal", they both have found time to start their own families here. We learn a little about the guys lucky enough to have hitched up with these dynamic sisters and the families they have created. All that and the SECRET RECIPE for Ann Law's famous "Barnacle Cookies"! (just kidding- they know it, but they're not talking) So quit lollygaggin' and hit "PLAY" Cap'!