The beautiful and quaint Hashknife bed and breakfast is located on the historic site of the original Hashknife Ranch. It offers comfortable and pristine accommodations with southern hospitality from its owners, James and Peggy Langford. This private apartment is under the Langford’s home and has a private entrance, queen size bed, full private kitchen, cable TV with VCR/DVD, free wireless Internet access, a private full bathroom with slate shower, a lovely backyard with gazebo, hammock for two and a “skywalk” overlooking the creek. The bed and
breakfast is just four blocks from Abilene Christian University and a three-minute drive from downtown or Hardin Simmons University, a few minutes from the Taylor County Convention Center, the Abilene Zoo or the Abilene Regional Airport. However, in Abilene, nothing is much more than ten minutes away. The hardwood floors and antique furniture add to the luxurious feel of these accommodations. A delicious full breakfast is served in the private kitchen. Comments from guests are a testament to the high quality offered by this bed and breakfast.
“They have created a truly beautiful environment! Out stay was relaxing and comfortable. The living space was gorgeous and the grounds were nicely landscaped. The pier overlooking the creek looked like quite a project. Breakfast was excellent and hit the spot,” said guests Tom and MaryLou.
“Their hospitality and friendliness have been second to none,” said guests Hugh and Janet.
“Thanks to the Langfords for carving out such a delightful spot in little ol’ Abilene. It was a most comfortable alternative to staying in a soulless hotel,” said gust Christine.
“It was a dream to stay in the luxury and simple elegance of the charming place,” said guest Jamie.
The story behind this adorable bed and breakfast starts with the history of James and Peggy.
As James was attending ACU, Peggy was attending Pepperdine University, and did not know each other. The summer of 1974 both James and Peggy were doing mission work in South America; James in Chili and Argentina and Peggy in Columbia. The missionary that James worked for traveled to Columbia in the middle of that summer to speak at a conference, which Peggy attended. Upon meeting Peggy and hearing her heart for what she is doing, the missionary mentioned to Peggy that she should meet a young man by the name of James whom she should meet. He advised that transfer to ACU and get to know James. This seemed silly to Peggy at first, but she realized that attending ACU was considerable less expensive that Pepperdine. So, she applied and was accepted into ACU’s education department. Soon after her arrival at ACU Peggy was asked to speak at a weekly meeting called Mission Outreach. This meeting included students who had already or were interested in doing summer mission work. Peggy was asked to speak at the South America meeting. James’ roommate attended this meeting. When he got back to his dorm room he told James about her and advised that James meet her. Once the met they were inseparable. That is, until she was offered and accepted a music scholarship from Pepperdine. She returned to California and the two kept in touch through letters and phone calls. He visited her during his Spring Break and proposed. Since that time the two have lived in a small town called Trinton in north-east Texas; Austin, Texas; Stockton, California; New Jersey and finally Abilene. Within all of those moves James received his master’s in ESL and they had two sons. The house they live in now is the second house they have lived since moving to Abilene, and they have lived there for 17 years. They worked on renovating the main part of the house first and then decided to make the bottom portion into a bed and breakfast. In 1997, four years after moving into their current house, they opened the Hashknife. It renovated it again in 2006 to what it looks like today.
“It has been so much fun getting to meet people from all over,” said Peggy.
The Hashknife averages two to three weekends a month of customers. Sometimes they have long-term visitors, but usually customers only stay a weekend.
For one to three nights, the Hashknife is $100 per night plus about $15 tax. Reduced rates are available for longer stays. Reservations can be made by calling (325) 675-6867 or by e-mailing to info@thehashknife.com. Confirmation for a reservation can’t be made until a 50% deposit has been made. Money is payable by check or via credit online. Detail can be sent out through e-mail.
