Carriage House celebrates 6th year

By Mike Trueblood

Published in The Burg Nov. 28, 2024

Ever dream about running your own business?

After 25 years as a physical therapy assistant, so did Laura Anderson.

"There was a group of us that tried to get together once a week for coffee," she said. "I had told them that when I retire, I would like to own a coffee shop."

A friend in the group worked at Uncle Billy's Bakery and helped make Anderson's dream a reality.

"She got the ball rolling," said Anderson, whose Carriage House bakery at 83 South Seminary Street celebrated its sixth anniversary on Nov. 14. "Literally one ball rolled into another and every door seemed to open."

In 2018, Carriage House opened in the location previously occupied by Uncle Billy's Bakery and if customers found some things familiar, that was no accident. 

"We based the menu on Uncle Billy's," said Anderson, who owns Carriage House with her husband, Todd. "We got all the recipes from Uncle Billy and we incorporated some of our own. We were willing to try anything."

If the business name seems familiar, that also was no accident. Anderson's father, Norm Bledsoe, owned the Carriage House furniture store on Simmons Street for 40 years and the bakery was named in his honor.

Anderson, who had only baked at home, needed some training to assume her new job. Taught by her coffee group friend and the friend's husband along with instruction from Uncle Billy's Bakery owners Maury and Susan Lyons, she became one of four bakers Carriage House now employs.

"I do everything I need to," she said of her baking chores. "I prefer sweets baking over bread only because bread baking is very finicky."

The Carriage House menu is as diverse as it is tasty with the bakery offering breads, bars, cinnamon rolls, scones, danishes, croissants, muffins, pies and cookies. It also has ice cream and serves soup with bread at lunch.

It sells hot and cold coffee, and coffee and special teas by the bag.

The most popular items at Carriage House include cinnamon rolls, scones, cream cheese danishes, croissants, thumbprint cookies, ginger crinkles and sugar cookies.

"We are always experimenting by adding different bakery items," said Anderson. "Some people ask about adding sandwiches but I don't know if I want to get into that. Our kitchen space is limited."

Carriage House, which supplies bakery goods to businesses like Landmark and Orange Cup, also handles call-in orders for special occasions.

The bakery has seating for about 25 people and has a gathering room available for rent that seats about 40.

Carriage House can be found on-line at www.instagram.com/thecarriagehouse, on Facebook or by calling (309) 342-6111.

The bakery hours are Monday-Wednesday 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Thursday-Saturday 7 a.m.-4 p.m. and is closed on Sunday.

Anderson looked back at a six-year run that began with her learning to manage a business, bake from scratch and survive the restrictions of the pandemic.

"There's been a lot of joys and a lot of struggles," she said.

"The community has really been phenomenal for us."