Welcoming guests as B&B for over 30 years, The Old Pioneer Garden Country Inn is located within an oasis of Northern Nevada's high desert.

The inn was built in 1861 the same year that silver prospectors toured the area and established the village of Unionville. Among those seeking fortune in those early days was Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain). His Unionville cabin remains standing. Today, most visitors come to this ghost town of about 20 inhabitants just to see Twain's cabin and then move on, but there is so much more.

The Old Pioneer Garden Country Inn -- a lodge that owners Lew and Mitzi Jones have refurbished without compromise to its authenticity -- accommodates guests with 11 rooms, six with private baths. Guest cottages reside along the creek. If you are celebrating a family reunion or other group occasion, the entire Inn is available for rent.

The Hadley House, a stone structure that once served as the one-bedroom home for a wagon maker, includes six bedrooms (two with fireplaces), a living room graced with a baby grand piano, a ranch-style kitchen/dining room, and a glass-enclosed conservatory. A tournament-sized pool table, antiques, countless books, and a bay window all add to the home's ambient warmth.

The Tack Room sleeps one or two in a stone-floored, renovated barn. If you're bringing horses and want to be near them, this might be the room for you, although the horseless are welcome as well. The inn's other lodging, the Field House, includes four rooms, each with a private bath, large kitchen, living room, and enclosed porch.

Enjoy farm to table organic produce. Meals are served at the Jones' place around a long wooden table in Mitzi's kitchen. When weather permits, diners trek out back to the gazebo or gather around a picnic table. The ranch yields its own produce, fruits, eggs, and milk products, and Mitzi's healthy home-cooked breakfasts are included in you room rate. Dinner is available at a reasonable price.

While Mitzi's in the kitchen, Lew can often be found outside. One of his favorite pastimes involves teaching guests, especially their children, the fine arts of goat milking and goose egg hunting.

So if your passing through or looking for a quiet western getaway or the perfect place for a wedding, you owe it to yourself to stop at Old Pioneer Garden Country Inn. You'll be glad you did!

Old Pioneer Garden is the perfect location for a Nevada country wedding under the big sky.

Unionville's mountainous perch features miles and miles of hiking trails sprayed with wildflowers and frequented by all sorts of birds ranging from downy woodpeckers to the American Bald Eagle. In the creek that nestles by the Hadley House, you can fish for German Brown Trout, or head up to nearby Patch Rye Lake to cast for walleye. The next-door neighbor also has horses for you to ride.

Fossil fields about a quarter mile above Unionville contain ammonites -- fossil shells curved into spirals. Star Peak, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, contains the ultimate challenge -- can you get to the top and back before the sun goes down? As for those with more earthbound interests, the slot machines and golf courses of Winnemucca, the county seat, are only about an hour's drive away. After a hard day of either climbing, gambling, or golf, hardy visitors will appreciate rustic Kyle Hot Springs.