The Quiet Place Getaways, established in 2000, has hosted thousands of guests in a variety of unique private homes throughout the Finger Lakes with one goal in mind: ‘pamper from a distance by providing a beautiful, relaxing sanctuary’. Whether you are looking for couples’ getaway to reconnect; a trip to unwind with friends; or a solo retreat to unplug, The Quiet Place is the perfect destination.
While The Quiet Place has been in business for over 20 years, Mark & Catie Tortarella, the owners and operators of this special vacation rental site, took over ownership in January 2021. Mark and Catie, along with their son, Benjamin, and golden-retriever, Eleanor Rigby, live in Webster, NY excited to carry on the TQP tradition of providing extraordinary accommodations and exceptional customer-service. Their mission is to preserve the authenticity of The Quiet Place, while making it their own, so guests can continue to enjoy these getaways for years to come.
Origin Story
In 2000, Eric Moon and Jan McKie launched The Quiet Place with one secluded vacation cabin in Bloomfield, NY. The cabin, which Eric got in an auction, inspired an idea for the previous bed & breakfast owner…‘create a vacation rental with the feel of a bed & breakfast’ where ‘guests could be indulged without actually sharing a living space with the proprietors’.
Well, that idea took off and it didn’t stay particularly ‘quiet’ for long. Soon Eric & Jan began hearing from other Finger Lakes property owners that they wanted to join The Quiet Place group. Eric, not knowing he even had a group, gradually started to add properties to The Quiet Place website, for which Eric and Jan managed all of the reservations. Over the years, Eric and Jan, along with the many different homeowners, made it their top priority that a TQP getaway always delivered just what the guests needed and much more!
Fast forward to October of 2020, Eric received a call from Mark and Catie looking to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. No reservation (everything had been booked for weeks!) and forty-five minutes later, they were still talking. Eric shared how he and Jan started The Quiet Place 20 years prior with one cabin and how it has organically grown over the years to include many different privately owned properties. At a crossroads in their own life, Mark and Catie were impressed. Catie, a school psychologist, had just gone back to working in person after months of being home during the pandemic, Benjamin, their 7 year old son, had just started a hybrid version of 2nd grade for only 2 hours a day in person, Mark, a manager of a pizza shop working tirelessly during the beginning months of the pandemic, had just taken a leave from his job to play home-school teacher. As the conversation came to a close, the couple thanked Eric for sharing his story with them and said…‘Maybe someday we will have a story like this to share’. Eric, ready to live an even ‘quieter’ life with Jan, shared that ‘his story was for sale’…and the rest as they say is ‘history’ (or as the Tortarella’s like to think – just getting started!)
TQP Watercolors by Cindy Harris
Cindy Harris is an award-winning plein air artist who truly believes the Finger Lakes region is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. She lives in Bloomfield, NY not far from the original TQP cabin. In fact, she is credited for telling Eric and Jan about the cabin going to foreclosure auction, which is how The Quiet Place all began. Grateful to Cindy for the auction tip, Eric and Jan commissioned her to create a watercolor of the Bloomfield Cabin. Since then she has painted original watercolor images of all The Quiet Places that followed and will continue to paint them as we add more. The beautiful paintings have always been featured on the website with the original artwork provided to the homeowner.
Working with Cindy is one of the perks to owning The Quiet Place, as she is as lovely as her artwork. For more information on Cindy Harris, check out her website: https://www.cindyharrisart.com/
