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Brookins Inn opens on Maple Avenue in Newfane
Located on the Niagara Wine Trail, a new Inn opens in Newfane.
NEWFANE — Travelers to Niagara County have a new place to stay in Newfane.
The Brookins Inn & Suites is now open and has already had a few guests, said owners Dan and Beverly Mandaville. Located at 2697 Maple Ave., exactly the corner of Maple and East avenues, the Brookins Inn offers three suites and two guests rooms. The Newfane couple wants to invite all kinds of travelers, as they already have.
“We’ve had people from New York City, Vermont and New Jersey, families, newlyweds,” Beverly Mandaville said. “We want to draw families on vacation, the traveling executives and so on.”
To give the inn an official welcome to the neighborhood, the Mandavilles will be holding a grand opening from 10 a.m. until noon Saturday at the inn. A ribbon-cutting is slated for 11 a.m., and refreshments will be served.
The building was built by DeLisle Brookins in 1893 and housed the Salmon Ridge Mercantile deli for a few years. The Mandavilles decided to turn the building into the inn, and work began in January.
The Brookins Inn consists of five rooms each with a separate entrance and a courtyard behind the building. Each of the rooms are named after an historical person, including Patterson, Roosevelt, Van Horn, Captain Hedley and Butterfield.
The Patterson Room, named after Arthur Patterson who built the first hotel in Newfane in 1823, offers a view of the historic First Baptist Church. The church was built from cobblestone in 1843.
The Captain Hedley Room, named after a resident known for his boat tours, offers a fireplace, while the Roosevelt Room is named after President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt made a stop in Olcott in 1899 and gave a speech at the Pioneer Days picnic.
The Butterfield Suite is named after physician Alexander Butterfield, and the Van Horn Suite is named after a prominent family in Newfane.
A number of people come to Niagara County for the destinations such as Niagara Falls and activities like fishing in Olcott, the Mandavilles said.
“And the wineries are big,” Dan Mandaville said, referring to the Niagara Wine Trail.
The Mandavilles are no strangers to the industry, as the couple also runs Convenience Cottages on the Harbor in Olcott. They’ve been running the cottages for 20 years, and they still have guests who’ve been coming since the Mandavilles started Convenience Cottages.
Running an inn is a lot like running the cottages, the Mandavilles said, except to run the inn requires a little more energy.
“It’s a step up, more hands-on,” Dan Mandaville said. “And we try to meet each guest as much as possible.”
Right now, the Brookins Inn is run by the Mandavilles, themselves, with some part-time help. Their children and three sons-in-law also help.
“It’s a real family effort,” Beverly Mandaville said.Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.
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