Meet the woman behind Karenville-
Built by owner Karen Thurnheer, the Victorian-inspired off-the-grid village in New York is a labor of love
The following written content by Kim Foley MacKinnon
When I first visited Karenville six years ago, I immediately knew I’d be back. I was on a cross-country road trip with my family and had booked stays at the most unusual places I could find along the way. Karenville, a village of tiny houses located in Ithaca, New York, stood out above all the rest. With COVID-19-related travel restrictions in place, a return trip to a place perfectly tailored to social distancing seemed ideal.
“Karenville is much more than just a place to sleep, it’s an experience,” the village’s Airbnb listing states. “It is off the grid with lots of charm, set in the country. Karenville is a group of tiny buildings built by Karen, with an architectural influence of the Victorian years. A place where you can sleep inside a piece of art.”
But this description hardly does Karenville justice. The sleeping quarters in the tiny village are beyond quirky. There’s a former corn crib outfitted into a perfect cozy room for one, a composting toilet inside a mini-silo, a fairy playhouse, and more, all built by creator Karen Thurnheer. Last time I was here, Thurnheer had goats; now she has a horse, eight guinea pigs, and a parrot named Ricky.
Off the grid
The Karenville adventure begins as soon as you book your stay, with a warning to not trust your GPS or Google Maps. “Just before entering into the deep dark woods, you will see our log cabin and Karenville on the left,” the directions state.
So often, when returning to a place that seems magical in your memories, it doesn’t hold up. But Karenville is just as lovely as I remember it—and so is Thurnheer.
Karenville sits on farmland that Thurnheer’s grandparents bought in 1943. For years, it was a working dairy farm; the dairy is gone but the property remains in the family. The tiny village was built more or less on a whim, with no real plan in place.
“I started building a building,” Thurnheer says. “I’m not sure why. It was probably just a weekend project and it was so fun, I had to build another one—and then that was so fun, I absolutely had to build another one. Then I had three, and thought, that’s almost like a little village. At some point, I realized I was over the top with buildings and it was a little silly.” Read more from Roadtrippers.
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