The house between Water and Main streets was infused with hospitality from its beginning. Ruth Wilkinson was its source.

“Her family has said she never met a stranger, was always inviting people in, always baking for people,” said Gail Fowler. “It felt like Ruth had a lot to do with the spirit of the house.”

Through the last century and then some, the Water Street home in Belhaven has been home to many, even if just for a night or two. Fowler has met many of them — family members of three separate owners of the house who’ve come back to visit their childhood home. More have come as guests of Between Water and Main Bed and Breakfast.

It wasn’t the first bed and breakfast operated at 367 E. Water St., but this one required a full restoration of the house by Fowler and Alan Rogers. They were living in New Jersey when they purchased the property in 2005; it would be another 10 years before they opened the doors of the bed and breakfast that’s hosted a constant stream of travelers. In addition to renovating the kitchen, updating the entire house and adding an apartment over a workshop behind the bed and breakfast, the couple put to very good use the antiques Fowler had been collecting for 40 years. Centuries-old sideboards were given new life as a double-sinked vanity, here; a coffee bar on the upstairs landing, there. In the living room, a beamed ceiling, gleaming hardwood floors and large brick fireplace form a perfect frame for antique secretaries and Empire-style sofas. The past is very present in this home that the tax card says was built in 1880, but locals dispute that fact — it was more like 1900, they say.

Just as their bed and breakfast guests over the years move on, Fowler and Rogers will as well. With five children between them, all between the ages of 25 and 31, and most living in the D.C. area, the two decided to put the inn and the property up for sale to move closer to their growing family.

Currently under contract, the property and business are a packaged deal, antiques included. Restoring the home to its former beauty was one of the best parts of being the owner of Between Water and Main, Fowler said.

“In some ways, I’ve felt like I’ve been a steward,” she said.

However, meeting people from near and far, learning their stories as their travels take them through the little town of Belhaven was even more enjoyable.

“It’s the thing we loved most: the different guests that come through the door, everything from world travelers coming in off the Intracoastal Waterway, people on their way down to the Outer Banks. We’ve had international travelers, people with all sorts of interesting backgrounds. You just never know who’s going to walk through the door,” Fowler said.

Between Water and Main Bed and Breakfast is listed by Jackson Lancaster, with Coldwell Banker Coastal Rivers Realty.