National Hotel Survivor of Canal and Stagecoach Days

The National Hotel was on the old Buffalo - Moscow stage route. River Road which intersects with Route 20A across from the hotel driveway was the main route to Mt. Morris and south to Dansville. The portion of Route 36 from Leicester to Mt. Morris was not constructed until 1947 for the cement trucks to travel for the Mt. Morris dam project. The River Road route may have been the Alleghany stage line south. The hotel was originally named the National Exchange House until 1844 when the name was changed to the National Hotel. The earliest recorded tavern license we could find was issued to Nelson Thinney in September of 1837. It was also along the Genesee Valley Canal and later the Pennsylvania Railroad.  It is on the National Register of Historic Sites. Photos by Richard Palmer.