Rogues' Harbor Inn circa 1890 |
First named the Central Exchange Hotel, Rogue's Harbor Inn & Restaurant was built in 1830 by General Daniel Minier in what was then known as Libertyville (South Lansing). The inn's original cost was $40,000 and took 12 years to complete: 15 inch thick brick walls, more than 13 working fire places and a facade similar to that of the Clinton Hall with columns stretching three stories.
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It was named the Central Exchange Hotel because it catered to the stage traffic from Elmira to Auburn and Cortland to Penn Yann. The first known bill for the hotel was, "50 cents admission, supper and horses extra..."
William Miller, a later owner of the inn & restaurant, renamed it the Elm Grove Hotel in 1890 for the row of beautiful elms trees planted along the front of the inn. At that time it was a stopping place for horse thieves and other no-gooders. Rogue's Harbor, or the Harbor, received it's current name shortly thereafter, around 1900, when it is said that a patron in high spirits climbed to the roof of a nearby building, and hurling a bottle of whiskey against the brick, proposed a toast, "Here's to a harbor of rogue's."
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| Tall tales abound as to the capers which occurred here in the inn & restaurant. One is that in 1935, William Miller came to visit the current owners of the inn, The Blanchard family. He told the family that when he was renovating the building he found large sums of counterfeit money in the attic. Some years later, the dies for printing the money were found in a nearby house. Another is that the Blanchard's had a blue parrot which sat on the porch asking restaurant patrons, "Would you like a cold cup of tea?" If the reply was yes, the proprietor would bring a tea pot of whiskey up from the cellar. And finally, the story most talked about is that of Ruloff, a notorious murderer, who was captured and confined here in the basement the inn since the county jail was full. |
| The inn has had many other more reputable visitors of note: The VanCleef's, William Henry Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State, Cardinal Spellman, Harriet Tubman, and Grace Miller White who used Rogue's Harbor for the setting of her novel, "Judy of Rogue's Harbor." It is also maintained that the inn was a stop on the underground railroad and that slaves bound for freedom in Canada passed through the inn & via a tunnel to the lake. |
| Today, the Inn & Restaurant is owned and operated by Eileen Stout, designer and restaurateur who graduated from Cornell University's Department of Landscape Architecture and decided to call Ithaca, NY her home. The Inn & Restaurant is currently operating a successful steak house and pub which opened in 1996 on the first floor of the building, and in 2001, after some further much needed renovations, the Inn/Bed & Breakfast once again began welcoming overnight guests. |
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