Historic Narrowsburg Inn gets facelift

By TOM KANE

NARROWSBURG, NY — Thanks in part to the Sullivan County Main Street Redevelopment Program, the historic Narrowsburg Inn is getting a new face.

The 163-years old inn, which was a stage coach stop in the days before the Civil War, will be covered with clapboard to look like it did in past years, according to the job foreman of A&J Maintenance of Yulan, NY, who is doing the work.

Owner Tom Prendergast said he felt the building’s recent exterior appearance “was never really reflective of the interior renovations we did in 1996 and probably was a reason we didn’t do as well as we might have. I’m very pleased. The county has really stood up to help us.”

The Main Street Redevelopment Program, which is a project of the Sullivan County Department of Planning and Community Development, assists building owners on the county’s Main Streets with a 50-50 matching grant for restoring of the buildings’ facades.

However, commissioner Alan Sorensen said that the program has prompted a considerably higher percentage of private investment, typically $5 for each county dollar.

The program has assisted in over 120 projects, since it started on April 30, 1998.

The county has provided $800,000 in grants and $700,000 in loans. That $1.5 million investment has resulted in $7.5 to $10 million in new Main Street investment throughout Sullivan County, according to Sorensen.

The façade grant is reimbursable, meaning that the owner must pay for the restoration and receive the grant money at the end of the project.

The inn, which served as a stage coach stop, a hotel for the raftsmen and a boarding house, was built in 1840 by Abraham Cuddeback who called it the Narrowsburg Inn. Then in 1888 it was called the Raftsman Hotel during the famous rafting days along the Delaware.

In 1905, the name was changed to the Englemann Farm House. In 1919 it was renamed the Wayside Inn, and in 1929 the inn was renamed the Century Hotel.

In 1988, the inn was purchased by Sharon LaPersonerie, who changed the name back to the Narrowsburg Inn. Predergast purchased the inn in 1998.