NEWFANE-Many in the West River Valley remember the inn at the center of Newfane village, right across from the general store, for its old-world-y ambience, the local-color charm of owners Eric and Gundela "Gundi" Weindl, and the exquisite meals served in dining room on the southwest side.
The inn had figured prominently in the life of Lori Damato, whose family has had a home in Brookline since the 1960s.
Originally from Norwalk and, later, Trumbull, Connecticut, Damato started coming to the area as a child and recalls fondly her times here - and many fine meals at the inn, which has been fallow for over a decade
Damato recalls when she noticed on one of her many Friday night drives past it that it was for sale. In 2022, she purchased it, and she's established Newfane as her full-time home.
"Eric had passed away in 2011." Damato recalls, and "Gundi lived here until 2020 when she passed."
Now, she's reopening a place that remains overflowing with memories of the Weindls' hospitality.
"Generations of families have made it a tradition to return time and time again to the Old Newfane Inn to savor Eric's Christmas goose and red cabbage, spaetzel, house dressing, garlic soup," said real estate agent David Burd on a 2021 Facebook post.
The sprawling 10,000-square-foot inn had been run for 42 years by the Weindls, both from Germany, who'd met at Stratton Mountain in 1963. They married in 1968 and soon acquired the inn, which they operated the until 2011.
"The food was fantastic and the drinks very generous," Burd continued. "Gundi always took the time to talk and hang out and she was very interested in her guests. I can remember seeing Eric in the kitchen, working away."
A place to gather
When she bought the inn, Damato says, it needed a lot of work. She has since installed new heating systems and energy upgrades, and she's transformed the space, calling on her love for design while retaining many of the building's Colonial-era elements.
Happily, she says, "I didn't have to do a lot of structural work because this is a great old building."
Damato and her partner, Michael Staats, recently completed a new tavern downstairs, "which is very basic," she says.
The tavern is adjacent to the Great Room, a spacious dining/sitting area that is often rented for gatherings. The former inn's dining room, that capacious area is appointed with couches, comfortable chairs, and tables for informal dining.
She plans to feature live music at least a few weeknights per month.
The tavern, open Friday through Tuesday, serves wine, beer, non-alcoholic options, and pub food: a staple charcuterie board and a different soup or sandwich nightly.
"It's a place for a community to gather," she says. "People can come sit with their friends and have a drink, and that's what we're trying to create. [...] So far, the community seems to have welcomed us and people are enjoying having a place to go, especially Sunday, Monday, Tuesday nights, when nothing in the area is open."
An eclectic meshing of old and new
Damato finds gratification in renovating, decorating, and entertaining, she says.
Several walls are filled with contemporary art, primarily works of a good friend's father, Tom Gargiulo, who died in 2022, "a tremendous artist who taught in the universities in Connecticut and was very active in the art community," Damato explains.
"So the contemporary art that you see smattered around here is all his," she says.
Acknowledging the eclectic nature of the inn's aesthetic, she notes many family heirlooms throughout.
"There are a lot of other old pieces, too - old drawings and paintings that I've collected over the years," Damato says.
Everything else, she says, is from tag sales, flea markets, and second-hand shops.
"I never go out and buy anything new," Damato says. "Everything's from somewhere else. I'm really big on repurposing."
It's all layered on the core of the building with darkly patinated wide plank floors, a massive brick fireplace, and period architectural detail throughout.
On the first floor is a new guest room and bath that complies with federal Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. Upstairs are two two-room suites. Four other guest rooms round out the inn's capacity.
Damato notes that, in addition to hosting individual guests, area people can "send their friends and family to the inn when they come up to visit," which may appeal to those who don't have a lot of room in their house for guests or who just want their own privacy.
The inn also offers overflow lodging for families in the area who are hosting events like reunions or weddings. "We have so many local wedding venues in the area, but not enough places to stay," she observes.
"It's not just an inn for rooms, it's also a place where you can come and book our Great Room for a special events" such as rehearsal dinners, corporate events, baby showers, wedding showers, bachelorettes' parties. Often such groups will want to rent the whole inn.
Damato speaks of her commitment to wellness and yoga, which she's practiced for some 40 years.
Thus, she explains, her establishment is called the Newfane Inn and Wellness Center. She hopes to welcome yoga instructors to run weekend retreats and to engage some of the "many talented people in this area" to run workshops on healthy eating, meditation techniques, botanicals ... all things wellness."
At this point, the inn offers a gentle flow yoga class each Wednesday evening, primarily for guests but open to the public.
A village fixture
The inn has a noble history: "This," she says of the southern wing of the L-shaped structure, "is the original part of the building. It was built on what's now Newfane Hill and brought down here when villagers wanted to merge with Fayetteville to create Newfane."
Dick Marek of the Historical Society of Windham County ponders what it must have involved to move even just the main block from a higher elevation of 1,600 feet along winding narrow dirt roads and a descending elevation of 600 feet to its current home.
"I'm confident that they must have at least partially disassembled the buildings being moved and then put them back together down here," he says. "But even today, with modern equipment, I doubt you could get any major portion of the inn down that hill in one piece!"
Newfane's 1983 National Register of Historic Places nomination form notes that the Federal-style building was constructed in 1787 "at the Hill village [of Fane]."
"The main block of the inn was moved in 1825 [...] to its present site overlooking the Common," wrote Chester historical preservation consultant Hugh H. Henry. "The Federal style, two-and-one-half story, wood framed [slate-roofed] building constitutes an unusual example of continuous architecture, being comprised of five attached units of the same scale [...]."
Over the years, according to the inn's website, the building also housed a tavern, a general store, a daguerreotypist, an ice cream shop, and several restaurants.
"Through all of this, and with at least ten name changes, the inn continued hosting overnight guests. In 1915, it was finally known as the Newfane Inn," the website notes.
After a period of neglect, and after World War II, internationally famous interior designer Christoph S. Castou "fell in love with the old inn and completely renovated it, resurrecting its fame."
The Weindls took it on in 1970, calling it the Old Newfane Inn.
A slow strategy
Damato reports that inn guests' reservations have been going well. Standing in the breakfast room in the Main Street ell of the building, she comments on the 20-foot-long table it houses: "Overnight guests use this for breakfast. Community style. They can come down here and relax whenever they wish," she adds, pointing to the comfortable chairs and couches also in the spacious room.
Of developing the inn's offerings, Damato says, "want to go slow and make sure we don't make any mistakes. We are not in any big hurry to set the world on fire. We have to make sure we're doing the right thing. That's how my approach is on everything now."
Damato met Staats, a local artist/sign painter, when she contracted him to do her sign for the new inn. They became immediate friends and later started dating.
"We're working together all the time, figuring out together," she says.
The inn's Court Street Tavern is open Friday through Tuesday. Hours are 5 to 9 p.m., except Sundays, from 3 to 8 p.m., which is when folks often gather to watch sports on the tavern's TV.
Damato says she tried organically to combine different uses of the historic property "to make a place where people could just be comfortable: come in, put their feet up, and have a warm, welcoming place to gather, to stay."
This News item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.