EMERGING ENTREPRENEURS

Sweet dreams
in your home away from home

By DONNA LUKIW

	TRR photo by Donna Lukiw Mary, left, Tony McHugh and Meg sit at the dining room table after breakfast in the dining room of the Harvest Inn. (Click for larger image)

HONESDALE, PA — The Harvest Inn Bed and Breakfast on North Main Street is a comforting place to sleep and dream; each room is seasonally decorated and every bedroom personalized with fresh flowers, a welcome journal and wind chimes.

Tony and Mary McHugh, originally from Long Island, decided to move out of the city and start their own business. Tony, an executive for MacCleanas in New York City and Mary, a stay-at-home mom, wanted a change from city life, and after searching the internet, they found that Olver’s Bed and Breakfast in Honesdale was for sale .

“We looked on the internet and found two businesses for sale. The other people outbid us and we bought this inn. I believe you’re brought to a place for a reason,” Mary said.

The inn was bought on October 1, 2002 and opened for business on October 3, 2002. After stressful days of packing and only two days to prepare for the opening, the couple bought furniture for the living room, parlor and reception area and welcomed the guests with open arms.

	TRR photo by Donna Lukiw The Harvest Inn sign, in front of the inn on North Main Street, greets guests before their stay. (Click for larger image)

She said that business is wonderful with the help and support of the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and the townspeople.

“We fell in love with Honesdale. This is a beautiful place with friendly people. They seem to have family and community spirit,” she said.

The guests are diverse, with tourists vacationing during the summer and traveling businesspeople visiting the area all year round. The McHugh’s current guests are from Canada.

As guests enter The Harvest Inn, they have an opportunity to sit by the fireplace in the parlor, munch on snacks in the reception area, watch movies in the living room or relax near the newly built pond next to the building.

The breakfast cooked and served by the McHugh’s may consist of melons and bananas, French toast, eggs, sausage, bacon and warm apples with whipped cream as a dessert.

“Nobody should ever go hungry,” Mary said. “We also serve pots of tea rather than just cups. People deserve pots, not cups.”

Since the inn was originally a bed and breakfast, the previous owners left some furniture and beds, though the McHugh’s personalized the inn with their own antiques and knick-knacks.

“We were lucky we didn’t have to renovate the building; we just painted some things. The house was perfect and the previous owners had a good reputation. We hope we can keep it up,” Mary said.

She decorates each bedroom and the rest of the inn according to season and holiday. During Christmas, the bedrooms are ornamented with Christmas trees and during Thanksgiving, mini baskets decorated with multi-colored fall leaves filled with candy are placed in the bedrooms.

The McHugh’s are self-sufficient entrepreneurs with no hired employees. They take the reservations, cook, clean, landscape and maintain the garden themselves.

For more information or to make reservations at The Harvest Inn call 570/253-4533.