Monday, May 2, 2022
Sunday, May 1, 2022
Remembering Stagecoach Days
Oxford Review-Times
April 24, 1925
(Except from article “When I Was A Boy”)
When I was a boy the plank road from Oxford to Norwich was in prime order and considered a great achievement. The four-horse stagecoaches and packet boat on the canal were the only public means of getting in and out of town unless one patronized one of the two livery stables.
The stagecoaches rattled down the plank road at a marvelous speed for those days, an horsemen boasted that their old names could do “2 40 on the plank.” The stage line from Utica to Chenango Forks with a change of horses at Oxford, the stage barn being part of Church’s lumber storehouse on Taylor street. The drivers were expert reins men and the skill with which they guided their “prancing steered” turned many a boy’s idea of being a pirate to that of being a stage driver when he grew up. The packet boats on the canal ran from Binghamton to Norwich.
Old Tavern Restored Near Sherburne
Columbus Public House Back In Business In Chenango County
By Fox New 40, Binghamton, N.Y., July 21, 2020
The Columbus Public House at 4301 State Route 80 outside of Sherburne.
Closed and empty for nearly two decades, a 227-year-old inn is back in business. The Columbus Hotel, now named The Columbus Public House, along Route 80, the old Hamilton-Skaneateles Turnpike just outside Sherburne in the small community of Columbus, population 975. The restaurant officially opened for business in October of last year.
Old 19th century photo of the Columbus House.
“I had someone stop the other day who said you can walk into any new restaurant and it’s just a restaurant, but he said it was cool sitting in a building that was 200 years old and just to think about what was going on in here over the last 200 years," says owner Edsall Hodges.
The back half of the building was added on sometime around the Civil War. The addition included a dance hall on the second floor.
Upstairs, blue paint and stencils still remain, though parts of the walls and ceiling are crumbling. An eagle is painted high on one wall, carrying a banner in its beak with the words "Union For Ever" scrolled across it.
According to local lore, the room on the second floor was meeting space for the Union militia as well as outlaws.
“It’s reported the Loomis gang used to frequent it," says Hodges. The Loomis gang, of course, was known around Chenango and Madison Counties for their massive horse theft operation. That upstairs room is closed to the public right now, but there are plans to try and restore it to be used in the future.
Hodges, a veteran of the local food service industry, bought the building about nine years ago. His plan was to use the kitchen for catering. However, he says the more he discovered about the building, it became "just too cool" to keep it closed to the public.
“It kind of just turned into opening a restaurant," remembers his daughter, Emma Hodges, who manages the kitchen and dining room. Emma said her dad also worked as a builder, so his two careers collided with this project. Wanting everything done the right way, he did it himself with help from friends and family.
After years of working on it, the finished product holds many pieces of the Hodges' family. Emma made light fixtures out of her grandmother's canning jars, her brother made candle sticks for the front windows, and the whole family poured hours of work into laying floorboards, fixing ceilings, and painting.
Emma said the reality of the restaurant opening the business didn't really set in until the delivery trucks showed up. “Since he owned it for so long, I was like I don’t know if it will happen.. But once we started getting food trucks in here, I was like wow this is real," Emma said Emma.
A "Union For Ever" painting still remains on the wall of a Civil War-era dance hall inside the inn. According to local lore, the room on the second floor was meeting space for the Union militia and outlaws. “It’s reported the Loomis gang used to frequent it," Hodges said. The Loomis gang, of course, was known around Chenango and Madison Counties for their massive horse theft operation.
The second floor upstairs room is currently closed to the public, but there are plans to try and restore it to be used in the future. Hodges, a veteran of the local food service industry, bought the building about nine years ago. His plan was to use the kitchen for catering. However, he says the more he discovered about the building, it became "just too cool" to keep it closed to the public.
“It kind of just turned into opening a restaurant," remembers his daughter, Emma Hodges, who manages the kitchen and dining room. Emma said her dad also worked as a builder, so his two careers collided with this project. Wanting everything done the right way, he did it himself with help from friends and family.
After years of working on it, the finished product holds many pieces of the Hodges' family. Emma made light fixtures out of her grandmother's canning jars, her brother made candle sticks for the front windows, and the whole family poured hours of work into laying floorboards, fixing ceilings, and painting.
Old stencil on ceiling upstairs.
Rustic dining area
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