CASPER — If the two-story Airbnb at the foot of Casper Mountain could talk, it would have many stories to tell.
One of those tales would be how that bullet hole got in the woodwork.
But there is more to the house than its colorful history. There are alcoves in the kitchen and sitting areas with views looking down upon Casper and beyond. The house boasts a butcher block table, original fireplace and antique tub with shower.
Before it arrived at its current location along a private road extension off Coates Road south of Casper, this 1,100-square-foot structure rested on cement blocks on Burlington Avenue in the city. Before that, the nomadic house sat on a foundation along East 15th Street.
“It’s listed in Airbnb as the ‘Arts & Crafts Summer Guesthouse on the Prairie,’” said owner Sharon Merschat, who with husband Walter moved and transformed it, saving it from demolition in 2002.
The three-peaked depot-like structure had been condemned by the city in 2002.
Drug House
Before the Merschats saved it, the home on Burlington had been broken into and occupied by vagrants and young people from time to time. It had become a home for drug use and other illegal activities, and the city planned to pay a contractor $5,000 to tear it down.
The Merschats knew the contractor hired to demolish the property. They had built a relationship with him, buying antiques from him that he had salvaged.
As demolition was set to start, the contractor called the couple and wondered if they would be interested in the built-in wood cabinetry between the dining area and kitchen, as well as built-in bookcases between the living room and dining room. The Merschats drove down to take a look.
“We walked in and there was a guy with a sledgehammer, and he destroyed the original (fireplace) mantle in a pile of rubble, and he had knocked off 13 bricks on the way to (trying to destroy) the whole fireplace,” Walter said. “Meanwhile Sharon is going around looking at this and that.”
The Merschats made a deal with the contractor to take the woodwork pieces for $1,000. And then they saw the carpet being pulled up and hardwood flooring underneath. Walter walked outside and saw the original gingerbread siding being pulled off.
He and Sharon conferred, then had a message for the contractor.
“I looked at all this wood and said, ‘You can’t do this, you’ve got to stop,’” Walter said.
The contractor told Merschat his contract with the city mandated he have the house torn down within a week. The Merschats made a deal to pay the contractor what he was being paid for demolition while the couple plotted another fate for the home.
Walter and Sharon Merschat have invested a lot of time, love, and energy into transforming the former condemned house into an Airbnb retreat. They worry about a proposed gravel pit that would be across the road from their property. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Built-in wooden hutches in the dining area are part of the character of the Airbnb offering at the base of Casper Mountain. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A bullet hole inside the two-story Airbnb at the base of Casper Mountain carries of story from the home’s past prior to being moved out of the city. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The kitchen of the restored home reflects how it might have looked in its early years. There is a butcher block table in the middle of the room and an eating nook to enjoy the views. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The back roof of the home was restored to its original design with one dormer and a peaked roof. A deck was also added. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
A Busy Month
Walter called the city asking if he could buy the house and move it to another site. He was told he had month to move it.
The couple previously had bought 4.5 acres next to their property off Coates Road at the base of Casper Mountain but had no idea how they would move the house or if their plan would work. But they plowed ahead.
“They gave us a month to find a mover, get a foundation built and go through all the paperwork to get it moved,” Walter said. “You have to have a moving permit from the power company, the cable company, from the fire department, police, sheriff, and then you have to find a mover.”
Initially they called businesses around Casper who moved trailer homes and were told they needed a house mover. They found one in Lander — Maz’s House & Mobile Home Movers. Walter called and asked the owner if he could move a house for him on Burlington Avenue.
“And he said, ‘Is that the house with those three peaks?’ And I said, ‘Yes sir,’” Walter said.
The owner told him he had already moved the house several years before and asked Merschat if he wanted to keep what was left of the partially demolished fireplace.
The answer was yes. A deal was made for $8,000.
Due to all the scheduling and the need to build a foundation, the city gave the Merschats an additional month. A foundation was built and the house prepped with angle iron on the corners and cables around it to hold it together. At 9 a.m. on the appointed day after two days of preparation, the little house in the city started its journey to becoming the little prairie house on the mountain.
The original two-story roof design in the back had been changed — likely in the 1930s — to allow for an outside stairway and separate apartment above. The Merschats removed it, tore off the roof, and restored it to the original architecture.
The house was rewired, re-plumbed, a porch was added on the east side and a covered entry on the west side. A deck was built in the back.
Walter Merschat said he hired a mason to fix the partially demolished fireplace. He then built a wooden mantle to go on top.
Shootout
Through their son’s business relationships, the Merschats came to be friends with late Natrona County Sheriff Mark Benton who told them a story about their newly acquired property.
Walter said Benton, the undersheriff at the time, and other officers were at the house decades ago to deal with someone when a gunfight started.
Officers were shooting from the side porch at the main entrance toward the dining room and kitchen area, while the suspect was firing the opposite direction. The windows were shot out. The suspect ended up running out the kitchen door and tripping off the small porch that was there at the time. Officers got their man.
“That is one of the bullet holes, so we are told,” Walter said, pointing to what clearly looks like a bullet hole in the back of one of the built-in bookcases off the fireplace room.
The Merschats found old newspapers and Collier’s magazines in the attic, and the name of the home’s apparent owner from the 1920s. A negative found in the attic was developed, and it showed the image of a Black women with flowers in front of her from 1964.
They also found a letter from a girl to a teenage boy who apparently lived in the house when it was on 15th Street.
She wished “Damon” a “Happy Valentine’s Day,” asked if he was going to a party and wrote that she was “grounded until Sunday.” It was signed “Jennifer.”
The couple launched the house as an Airbnb eight years ago. It’s available for bookings between May and the fall. Wind and snow on the mountain base make it nearly impossible to access in the winter.
To move the house from Burlington Avenue up the mountain required several permits, and the Merschats initially were given a month to get it done. (Courtesy Walter and Sharon Merschat) 
The poured concrete foundation is ready to receive the house off Burlington Avenue in Casper. (Courtesy Walter and Sharon Merschat) 
While the Airbnb has one bedroom downstairs, there are two beds upstairs that could accommodate children or other adults. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
One of the items the Merschats discovered in the attic of their new home were copies of Collier’s Magazine from the 1920s when the home was on East 15th Street in Casper, left. Also, a negative was found that, when developed, made this print of a Black woman in 1964, who ma be a possible former resident or owner of the home. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Peace And Worry
Sharon said the big selling point for those who come and stay is the view, the wildlife outside and the peace.
Their most recent guests stayed for nine days.
“We absolutely loved it. The surroundings were so peaceful and exactly what we needed to relax and recharge,” the couple wrote on their online review. “The wildlife viewing was amazing. We felt so at home and hope to return.”
During a Cowboy State Daily visit, a hummingbird was flying around the east porch feeder and a deer wandered into the yard from the mountain above.
The couple worry about a Prism Logistic’s proposal to mine gravel directly across the private road from their home and the Airbnb on the nonmotorized section of state land. They believe there will be environmental, economic and aesthetic impact to their property as well as to everyone else’s in the area.
The view out of the kitchen nook and from the east porch would be marred.
“There’s no way anyone would want to stay here,” Sharon said. “Our retirement extra income (would be) gone.”
Bookings this year continue tend to be longer stays through the end of the season. The former drug and vagrant house has found new life and purpose for people fly-fishing, visiting Yellowstone or simply taking a getaway to “regenerate your soul,” as one guest wrote in a review.
Another guest from Sheridan wanted to know more about the woodwork and antique furnishings.
“The furnishings are incredible, they would tell so many stories if they could,” he wrote in 2022. “Our favorite is the butcher block.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
