Finding the rose-colored Queen Anne on West Nichols Street in Welsh was an answer to Kayla Berken’s prayer. She and her husband and five kids moved from Shreveport after her husband was transferred. They were living at a camp in Lake Arthur, temporarily, and trying to make a decision about where to live permanently.

“I started praying a Novena. That’s a prayer to the same saint for nine days, asking that saint to intercede on your behalf. I had seen a show about St. Therese on Catholic TV. She’s called the little flower. When she was dying she promised to shower the world with roses,” Kayla explained.

(St. Therese’s aim was to spread faith in God’s love, shortly after her death there began to be reports of answered prayers being accompanied by the fragrance or appearance of roses.)

Kayla said, “I finished the novena on Good Friday. When we went to church at Our Lady of the Seven Dollars , the roses were in full bloom…”But Kayla wanted a definite sign that Welsh was the place to raise her children. On the way to an Easter egg hunt, the Berkens passed the For Sale sign in front of the rose-colored house on Nichols Street.

“I called and asked the real estate agent if I could see the house and she said to come over. When I got to the front door, I saw my sign,” Kayla said, pointing to the bronze plate that reads: Rosie Gables Bed and Breakfast. “The owner of the bed and breakfast, Barbara Watkins, called each of the inn’s guest rooms by a different flower. There was a Magnolia room, a Rose room and so on. The wallpaper was flowered. There was a crystal vase of roses on the bannister as soon as I walked in. The large round dining room table held a huge bouquet of roses.” Kayla had her sign.

The Calkins House, more commonly referred to as the Watkins house by locals, was built in 1901 and has stood the test of time. Built by the Calkins family from Michigan, the story-and-a-half house is constructed of heart cypress. The double wall construction and plaster walls were not common building techniques in the south at the time. The roof was steeply pitched, also a characteristic of northern houses. Calkins is credited with opening the first ice manufacturing plant in Welsh. The second owner, B.L. Orvis, began the town’s rotary club and was a founding member of the First Presbyterian Church.

Byron LeRoy Orvis (B.L.’s son) lived in the house from 1925 to 1960. In a letter to Barbara Watkins, he said that during the warm summer months, the thick, plastered walls helped keep in the cool night air. His father worked to improve the circulation by adding windows upstairs. The Orvis family created double doorways between what the north and east and east and south rooms, which were the upstairs bedrooms. Openings were also created in the ceiling of each closet to move the heated air upward.

The woodwork has been preserved or replicated in areas where windows have been replaced or added. The wood floors are original to the house. The floorplan is unusual because of the diagonally placed corridor with various turns. It cuts across from the entrance/stair hall to the rear dining room. Overall, the living room has a total of nine different wall planes and the bedroom has eight.

The many windows allow light to flood into the living room and dining area and the Berkens have kept the window coverings simple.

There is one fireplace in the Berken’s home. It’s been converted to gas now. When the Orvises lived in the house, they put a coal-fired furnace in the area. There are still openings in the fireplace wall between the living room and the dining area.

The fireplace has a mantle constructed of golden oak. Ionic columns flank the fireplace woodwork, which features egg and dart and bead and reel molding.

Another unusual opening is through the built-in dining room lead glass fronted cabinets. At one time, the room on the other side of the dining room was a butler’s pantry.

The Berken children play the antique grand piano in the living room. Other antiques fill the house and carry a bittersweet memory About the time the Berken’s bought the house, Jason’s mother, grandmother and uncle died, all within a short period of time. Jason and Kayla inherited many pieces of Victorian-style furnishings.

These heirlooms suit the house perfectly and Jason’s commitment to keeping such treasures to remember past generations. Though not considered an heirloom, the Berkens have abstracts, payment records and architectural drawings of their historical home.

Kayla doesn’t know why, but she’s been asked if the house is haunted. “I always laugh. Usually, I say, if it were, my kids would have scared off any ghost by now,” she said.

A conversation with a family member of a past owner revealed the possible source of the public’s curiosity about any paranormal activity at Rosie Gables. A teen with an overactive imagination is thought to have begun the rumor, claiming that she once saw a lady in a long green dress. No other owner, nor the teen’s parents, ever saw the lady in green.

However, this is the time of year that passersby can expect to see ghosts at the Berkens. They’ve put out decorations, including ghosts, in preparation for the big Halloween party they look forward to each year.For a while