Historic buildings of the Adirondacks

Osborne Inn- It all started in 1896 with Will Osborne. He moved to Newton Corners due to his wife’s ill health. At first his wife Nora and he bought and ran the Wilber Hotel. One day while Nora was doing the laundry, it caught fire and burnt to the ground.

That little incident could have thrown him out of business, but he was too good of a businessman. He then rented and ran the old Adirondack Hotel. At that time he also built two other hotels. One of them he just rented out to people, but the other was soon to become something great! The building was between the main road and the lake near the current Speculator beach. They moved in 1902. That same year, Will Osborne died. Nora then was left with her young family of three to run the hotel. She made it one of the greatest hotels in our area. Later, due to the building of the new bridge and Route 30, the Osborne Inn was demolished.

Sturges House- In 1858 Dave Sturges built his Inn on Newton’s Corners. He had planned on this ever since he lived with a man named Clark Satterlee, who he worked for. Acting as a guide for the guests at Clark’s Hostelry, he dreamed of having an inn of his own.

He then found a job at the Burnham’s Mills until he had enough money to buy lumber to build his inn. In 1858 Dave married Matilda Holmes and started to build his inn. Matilda and Dave happily ran the inn until Matilda passed away on December 11, 1868. After Dave’s tragedy, he had to search for a new partner. His sister in law, Mahala Fountain quickly stepped in her place. They ran it together from then on the building was located near the sight of the current Speculator Post Office and HSBC bank. The Annex of this building, Zeiser's, still stands today.

The Hamilton Inn- The Adirondack Hotel Company won the bid for the property which was once owned by the Morley’s. They built an Inn over the ruins of a past existing building. The hotel company bought it as the Morley Inn (Sacandaga Lake Hotel). It was opening on Memorial Day when the kitchen caught fire from heating water. It burnt down. Construction started in 1916 to build the new Morley Inn. It cost $65,000 dollars and was ready for use in 1917. It was then sold to the Adirondack Club and named the Hamilton Inn. It was located near the Hamilton County Court House.

Rhinelander- Philip Rhinelander, son of William Rhinelander, was a very well educated man. He moved to the Rhinelander holdings in Newton’s Corners in order to make a profit for them. He was going to extend the acreage by building a new house. Since he moved to Lake Pleasant, he made a road, which is now Elm Lake Road, making the four corners. In 1815, he started making his mansion. The mansion overlooked Elm Lake. He had many servants and slaves to assist him in running a stock farm. He married Mary Hoffman.

Haunted? ...His Young wife was supposedly held prisoner in his mansion! She would give letters to her husband to mail, but once out of her sight, he would tear them to bits. Later a pack peddler came to the door of the mansion and talked to her. He was later found dead on the estate grounds.

Another story tells of a washwoman who talked to her, one of Philips many servants. After Mary befriended her, she later turned up dead.

Mary became ill in 1818 and on September 7^th, she died. The towns people then believed that the house was haunted because the owners, after it was deserted by the Rhinelander’s, supposedly heard noises and saw Marie’s ghost.