Rogues' Harbor Inn, formerly known as the Elm Grove Inn and Central Exchange Hotel, is a historic inn and

tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

located in

Lansing, New York Lansing is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 11,565 at the 2020 census. The Town of Lansing has within it a village named Lansing. The town is located on the northern border of Tompkins County and is locate ...

. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2009 and is located on the eastern shore of

Cayuga Lake Cayuga Lake (, or ) is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area (marginally smaller than Seneca Lake) and second largest in volume. It is just under long. Its average width is , and i ...

in the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located directly south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York (state), New York, in the United States. This region straddles th ...

region of Upstate New York, approximately eight miles from

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

. The building is a three-story brick structure built in the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style between 1830 and 1842 by major general Daniel Minier. It's a 40-foot-deep by 80-foot-wide rectangular on a

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

-coated

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

foundation with a gable roof. The building features a full-width porch with a roof supported by turned posts. The author Grace Miller White used it as the inspiration for the setting for her novel ''Judy of Rogue's Harbor'', ''See also:'' which was made into a film of the same name in 1920.

History

The Central Exchange Hotel was the first brick structure built in Lansing. Construction began in 1830 when major general Daniel Minier secured the services of Lemuel Kelsey of Dryden, and apprentice carpenter, Nelson Morgan of Lansing, to erect this three-story building. The primary purpose of the building was to become a rooming house, a store, and living quarters. At the cost of $40,000, Minier situated the building on family land purchased from Nicholas Van Rensselaer (Military Lot No. 87 of the

Central New York Military Tract The Military Tract of Central New York, also called the New Military Tract, consisted of nearly of bounty land set aside in Central New York to compensate New York's soldiers after their participation in the Revolutionary War. Establishment ...

). The Central Exchange Hotel received its name because it was on the road between Ithaca and Auburn, and

stagecoaches A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

would stop there to exchange horses. Seven years after completion, Minier died, and his remains were placed at Asbury Cemetery in Lansing.

The Inn

The three-story building is largely colonial, having wooden pillars across the front and metal balconies built across each story on the north and west sides. The first floor contains living rooms, a grill, and a bar with a vast hall extending the length of the structure through the center. The second floor has sleeping rooms, and the third has the famous ballroom. Connecting all the floors is a spiral stairway, which is considered a unique piece of 19th century craftsmanship. Above this is the attic, originally lighted by two oval leaded glass windows at either end. Located here were two huge zinc-lined cisterns expertly caulked and built of whitewood planks. One was for drinking water pumped by a windmill and piped throughout the building, and the other was to catch the soft water from the roof used for the kitchen.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in New York Hotel buildings completed in 1842 1842 establishments in New York (state) Greek Revival architecture in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Tompkins County, New York Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Tompkins County, New York