The West Lane Inn

A Mansion That Has Stayed a Hotel Since 1978

Built in 1849, the house that is now the West Lane Inn spent over a century as a private mansion before the Prieger family bought it in 1972 and converted it into a hotel in 1978. The inn changed hands again recently, sold for a sum in the low millions to new owners who agreed, as a condition of the sale, to keep it operating as a hotel. A building this old rarely gets that kind of continuity promise in writing, and it says something about how the town values the property.

Why It Works

We chose it for the combination of real age and real intent: a mansion old enough to have fought off a century of redevelopment pressure, still run as a hotel by owners who bought it specifically to keep it one. Seventeen rooms spread across two acres of grounds give the property a scale closer to a private estate than a roadside inn, and its position inside Ridgefield's historic district means the house keeps company with buildings of its own era rather than standing alone against newer construction.

Why This Location

Ridgefield's Main Street runs through a genuine historic district of Colonial and Greek Revival architecture, anchored by the Keeler Tavern Museum, an eighteenth-century inn that still carries a cannonball fired during the 1777 Battle of Ridgefield lodged in its wall. The town's cultural life runs well past its history: the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum shows emerging and established artists, the Ridgefield Playhouse hosts concerts and comedy, and Weir Farm National Historical Park preserves the home and grounds of Impressionist painter J. Alden Weir. In autumn, the surrounding backcountry roads rank among New England's better-kept leaf-peeping routes, and the inn sits close enough to all of it to make a car optional for a weekend.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€

• Vibe: 1849 colonial mansion turned inn, New England elegance, art-town sophistication

• Chambres: around 17, set on two acres of grounds

• Best For: couples, fall foliage travelers, art and theater enthusiasts, Berkshires day-trippers

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: morning coffee on the patio with the Berkshire foothills in view

• Dining: patio coffee service on site; The Benjamin and Ridgefield's Main Street restaurants nearby

• Amenities: concierge service, room service, BBQ facilities, two acres of private grounds

Two Acres in the Historic District

The inn's two acres set it apart from a typical in-town hotel: enough grounds to feel private without leaving Ridgefield's historic district, where Main Street's Colonial and Greek Revival buildings are a short walk away rather than a drive. Seventeen rooms keep the property at a scale the grounds can absorb, and the inn's position inside the district means the view out the window is part of the history it sits in, not a backdrop added later.

Coffee on the Patio, Foliage on the Hills

Mornings here run through the patio, where coffee service looks out toward the foothills of the Berkshires, particularly worth timing around the fall foliage season that draws a steady stream of New York and Connecticut day-trippers to the area. The Ridgefield Rail Trail starts close enough for a guest to walk off breakfast before driving out to see the leaf-peeping routes along Ridgebury Road and Silver Spring Road.

Before You Book

The inn is better suited to a couple or a small group than a family needing resort-scale activities; its appeal runs through the town around it, the museum, the playhouse, the historic district, rather than through on-site amenities. The property's recent change of ownership came with a commitment to keep it a hotel, worth noting for anyone planning a repeat visit to a favorite room.