Stagecoach Inn ★★★★★

A Farmhouse That Became an Inn Because of the Traffic

The house went up in 1747. Forty four years later Anthony Dobbin, who farmed the land, noticed that the stagecoaches running through Orange County were cutting across his property, and turned the farmhouse into an inn to catch them. Governor George Clinton stayed. So did most of the county bench, Goshen being the county seat. What survives from that period is not a plaque but the building itself: ceilings of fourteen to sixteen feet, five fireplaces, a foyer with room to take a coat properly. A restoration brought the wiring and the bathrooms into the present without flattening any of it.

Why It Works

Genuine eighteenth century inns that still take guests are rare, and most of the ones that do have been renovated into something safer. This one kept its scale. Five rooms, five fireplaces and a dining room that serves the village as well as the house means the ground floor has a life of its own on a weekday evening, which is exactly what an inn is supposed to have and what a country hotel of eighty rooms cannot manufacture. The second reason is position: Main Street, in a county seat, rather than at the end of a rural drive.

Why This Location

Goshen is a small Hudson Valley town with a court house, a Main Street worth walking and one genuine claim to fame: harness racing. The Historic Track here is the oldest of its kind in the country and the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame sits beside it, which is a stranger and better afternoon than most valley towns can offer. Beyond the town, Orange County opens onto the Warwick wineries, the orchards, Storm King and the west bank of the Hudson, and New York City is close enough to make this a weekend rather than an expedition.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Colonial, high ceilinged, village hotel

• Rooms: Five, each with a private bathroom, in the original rooms of the 1747 house

• Best For: Weekends out of New York, history travellers, couples who want dinner downstairs and no lift

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The ceilings, between fourteen and sixteen feet, and the five fireplaces that came with them

• Dining: Two rooms, the Spode Dining Room and the Solarium, serving Continental classics with seasonal and local ingredients, plus a bar seating five or six with a whiskey list and small plates

• Amenities: Five fireplaces, covered porch, yard, event space, free private parking

• Attractions: Goshen Historic Track, the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, Main Street Goshen, the Warwick wineries, Storm King

Five Rooms Under Sixteen Foot Ceilings

The guest rooms are the original rooms of the house, so they vary in size, shape and outlook, and the ceiling height is the thing that startles people on arrival. Each has its own bathroom, which was the point of the restoration, and the modern services were run in without being made visible. There is no lift and no corridor of identical doors. Ask which room has a fireplace and which faces Main Street rather than the yard; in a house of this age the difference between the front and the back of the building is a different stay.

The Spode Room, the Solarium, and a Bar for Six

Dinner is the centre of the operation. The Spode Dining Room is the formal half and the Solarium the lighter one, and the cooking runs to Continental classics built on seasonal and local produce, which in Orange County means a short supply line. The bar seats five or six people, no more, with a whiskey selection and small plates, and it is the best seat in the building on a winter evening with a fire going. Guests eat where the village eats, which is the oldest definition of an inn there is.

Before You Book

Check in runs from three in the afternoon, late arrivals are handled, and check out is at eleven. Animals are not accommodated. With five rooms and a restaurant that also hosts events, weekends fill first and a wedding in the house will shape the noise on a Saturday, so it is worth asking what is in the diary for your dates. Parking is free and private.