Upper Hotel

Hotel Berne

• 1824 the upper hotel was built Daniel Simmons for use as a hotel, tavern and store.
• 1850's it was owned by William Reinhart and was one of Berne's three hotels.

From Memories of Berne, Days Gone By, by Helen M Lounsbury:

A large trough carved from a pine tree marked it. The trough was kept full of small minnows to be used by parties that went to the lake after pickerel. A huge pump made out of a log supplied the water from a well under the sign. Innkeeper Reinhardt, always red faced, smiled a welcome to the weary passengers as they brushed off the dust of the day’s journey. His son, Little Pete, who weighed in at over 200 lbs., hastily waved his two white shoats out of the hotel yard. There were two good springs in the cellar. The hotel was famous for its buckwheat pancakes sausage and milk crullers. Other favorite foods for evening suppers included hot biscuits, smoked beef, sauerkraut, roulages (pickled tripe and beef), honey and other delicacies.

• 1914 in the winter both the hotel and the Patten home to the east, plus several others homes were destroyed in a spectacular fire. Charles Wolford was hired to rebuild the hotel on the site of the Patten home site and a barn to the rear. The hotel also had a tavern.
• ca. 1925 it was owned by Morris Shanks a builder in Albany, who claimed he traded a house for it. Morris also trained and raced trotting horses.
• 1950s served as a boarding house for teachers.
• 1960 the Town of Berne purchased the hotel for use as the Berne Town Hall, Berne Public Library, Berne Museum, and Berne Historical Society center.
• 1965 the large hotel barn, which was used to store town equipment, burned mysteriously on Holloween night.

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  Trotter
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  Morris with horse
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  Socony Gas
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  Berne Town Hall