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The Old Drovers Inn dining room in better days
DOVER PLAINS, NY -- All good things, unfortunately, eventually come to an end. That’s the fate of the famous Old Drovers Inn, which will go on the auction block at the Dutchess County Courthouse in Poughkeepsie next Thursday, June 25.
The inn, built in 1750 as a lodging place for drovers herding cattle between New York and Vermont, will go along with its outbuildings and about 10 acres of land.
The Old Drovers Inn was among the last of what at one time were numerous such facilities. It was known in modern times for its murals, candle-lit dining room, wide-board floors, and such iconic foods as popovers and cheddar cheese soup.
It opened as the Clear Water Inn. Although it was the oldest continuously operating inn in the country, The Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck technically held that title because it never changed its name.
The Old Drovers closed last fall, shortly after losing its liquor license. It had been operated for its Brooklyn real estate investor owners until early last year by Rafael Hasid, now chef-owner of the Israeli restaurant Miriam in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He blamed the declining economy for a sharp falloff in business at the Old Drovers.
The property is being foreclosed on by TD Bank NA, a subsidiary of Canada’s Toronto Dominion Bank. According to a story published in The Lakeville Journal:
“Sometime last year, the owners simply abandoned the property. Dishes and cookware were left out on the counters, food was left to rot in the walk-in refrigerators. Dessert plates in the kitchen still had bits of cake left on them. Though the bedrooms were left neatly made up, as if guests were expected at any moment. With no electricity in the building, the rooms remained dark and musty and mold and mildew had grown on soft-surfaced items such as chairs and drapes. Even the old wood beams and the massive wood bar were coated with visible spores.
"Most of the furnishings and the books in the large library were tossed into a Dumpster -- neighborhood residents climbed in and rescued many of them.”
IN OTHER RECENT DUTCHESS COUNTY RESTAURANT NEWS:
• Poughkeepsie icon may house restaurant
Comments
The auction does not necessarily signify "the end of the road" for Old Drovers. The inn also closed in 1854 due to loss of business after the railroad replaced the drovers as a means of transporting cattle to market. Even the Tavern on the Green has been brought down by recent current events. But those of us who love the Old Drovers Inn have hope that this will be a sad but not a final chapter in the history of this great property. The article in the Millerton News/Lakeville Journal contained many inaccuracies, both historical and otherwise, as well as a tone of negativity and what seemed at times to be gloating over apparent demise. As one local resident put it "What about reaching out to see what can be done of a positive nature? What happened to using a paper as a forum for that?"
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