STOP SEVEN: Lakeville – The Gateway Inn 27 Millerton Road
High Roads and Low Roads and Travel Notes.
From Torrington, I headed to the Interlaken Inn in Lakeville. I followed this route found in the guide book: High Roads and Low Roads: CT4 to CT63 to CT126 – Johnson Road – Rte 112
This 25.2 mile ride took 41 minutes and consisted of incredible mountain views. However, by the time I reached Interlakken at 4:45 p.m. after being in the car for over 10 hours that day, I was exhausted. For the day, I drove 211.4 miles. I was glad both my room and the hotel restaurant were in the same building as I didn’t want to get back into Sage to move to another building. My room had a sweet enclosed porch, where I could put my feet up and watch the rain that had moved in.
The next morning, I had a really quick ride from the Interlaken Inn. At 7:40 a.m., I headed back on Route 112 and turned right onto Route 44 into the “center” of Lakeville, arriving at 7:46 a.m. This area of Connecticut was very close to the New York border, as Millerton New York was just two miles from there. The total mileage was 3.3 miles.
About Lakeville in the 1930s
In the guide book, it describes Lakeville as “the trading center” of Salisbury. The altitude there is 800 feet above sea level. The Holley Manufacturing Company Plant sits at the intersection of Routes 44 & 41. Holley Manufacturing was the first company in the country to produce pocket cutlery. The guide also describes the Hotchkiss School, an exclusive boarding school (which is still there) and Lake Wononscopomuc.
About the Gateway Inn:
It was surprisingly difficult to find out information about the location of the Gateway Inn. On the Salisbury Historical Society page, there were a lot of oral histories that discussed the Gateway Inn. Some of the people interviewed discussed a swinging bridge leading from the Gateway to the lake. Others discussed that it was near where there is an apartment next to the site today. I have found on this set of trips that the Town Historians were very helpful and the Salisbury Town Historian was no exception. She told me the following information: “First the Gateway Inn was not located on route 112, but on route 44 next to the Holley William House. It was first called the Wononsco (probably a shortened version of the name of the lake) House and later the name was changed to The Gateway. The earliest date I can find for this building is 1875, All that is left of it now is a large stone retaining wall. I believe it was razed in the late 1960’s. It was run by the Peabody family until 1923 when it was sold to Mr.W. L. Laurens. At that time the name was changed to the Gateway Inn. Nothing is left but a stone retaining wall now.” She also scouted it out for me on her ride home where she noted the location of what was the Gateway Inn was at 27 Millerton Road.
Notes from the letter:
February 25, 1932. The Gateway Lakeville Connecticut.
Well dear, here I am back to the old grind, traveling. I believe there are only five guests here tonight. This place is immense. I had to leave early this morning so I could get as much business as I possibly could. Dear when we are all married and living in Hartford. I am going to take you on this trip. It is really beautiful. All the roads are through mountains and I would try to imagine the beauty is just incomparable, anywhere during the summer or fall I’ll not forget to have you see all this beauty around these pots. This town of Lakeville is called the Geneva of this county. In the winter when there is a good amount of snow and ice it is quite gay and fashionable. I seem so insignificant sitting here in this large lobby, all alone not even the clerk or the desk is in front Where someone is. I have the radio going and strange to say they are playing all along and my thoughts are of you.
If you happen to have a map handy, you will notice that I am in the northwestern corner of Connecticut between New York and Mass.
He also includes a poem in this letter,
Trees by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
COFFEE SHOP/Notes I didn’t stop there anywhere for coffee as I had just had a cup of tea at the Interlaken Inn. The location of where the Interlaken Inn was located stays a mystery in my mind. In front of 27 Millerton, there was another house. If there was a retaining wall, it was obstructed by lots of overgrown bushes. It also didn’t make sense in that in the oral histories, people talked about a bridge that went across the pond in back of the inn. This location was across the street from a pond. So on what I perceived to be a retaining wall across from there, had two plaques. One said Montgomery lodge number 13 bicentennial 178 -1983. There was also another semi retaining wall next to the pizza shop. It was disappointing not to know where this was located. I reached back out to my resource and she interviewed two long time citizens of Lakeville who said “The Gateway Inn was next door to the Holley-Williams House . There is a private house there now behind all the shrubbery. #27 Millerton Road.
Directly across the street by Deano’s Pizza was the entrance to the swinging bridge. It was rickety and some planks were missing. It went from the other side of Rt 44 to the road that led to the lake and over the small pond where kids used to fish. (Factory Pond) There were huge snapping turtles in that pond at the time. The bridge was eventually demolished for safety reasons.”
So, it still doesn’t make sense to me that such a large structure was located there. 27 Millerton has been on that site since the 1860s and postcard pictures of this inn showed a really large building and my grandfather also described it as immense. Anyways, it was indeed a mystery.
Waiting 