Hyde Manor
This site maintained
and researched by
Aron Garceau
along rte. 30
19th century up until the middle of the 20th century with its heyday from 1890
to 1940. Now dilapidated, probably beyond repair, this old tourist attraction
now sits off to the side of Route 30 staring at the passers-by with it's glassless
windows and collapsed porch, an enormous structure that was one of the most
beautiful in its day.
From "Pictorial History of Sudbury" I quote the following; "Sudbury's most famous hotel would no doubt be
Hyde Manor. Built in the late 1700's and purchased by Pitt W. Hyde in 1801, it grew to become one
of the most celebrated in New England. Situated on the Stage Route between Canada and Northern Vermont,
and Whitehall and Rutland, it became a favorite resting place for many. Mr. Hyde came to Sudbury as an
innkeeper from Hyde Park, Vermont. A son, James, took over the inn upon his father's death in 1823 and
under him it became known for it's excellence of fare and for the cheerful and friendly welcome it extended
to all of it's guests. James Hyde also served as Town Clerk for thirty years, as justice of the peace for thirty-
four years, he represented the town of Sudbury in the General Assembly, was a Senator from Rutland County
in 1850-51 and was Assistant Judge of the Rutland County Court."
The above picture is how the Hyde Manor looked around the turn of the century. click the images to see them bigger
The following pictures are what Hyde Manor looks like today.
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Click here for Historic Pictures of Hyde Manor taken from old postcards found on eBay. |
"In 1862 the hotel was destroyed by fire and the present building was erected by James Hyde in 1865. His son,A.W. Hyde then took over the new hotel, which would accomodate two hundred guests and became theperfect resort for families with children. James K. Hyde was later born to A.W. in 1874 and he grewto be the fourth generation to carry on the business and himself produced the fifth and last generation to own the inn. On March 27, 1944 one of the most spectacular fires to ever take place in Sudbury occurredwhen the 70 room annex of Hyde Manor burned. No official estimates of the loss was at hand, but it was thoughtto be a $75,000 loss (in 1944). The annex was built with the best materials; built entirely of clear wood withno knots and tremendously solid. The floor josits were three by twelve inches in dimension and set at a distanceof 10 inches on all floors. The central building, barns and the Hyde Cottages to the North were undamaged by the fire."
In the 1960's the Hyde Manor changed hands and for the first time in over 150 years was no longer in the Hydefamily. For a short while it was run as a hotel called the Top of the Seasons but with the change in times, so camethe change in leisure and it did not do as well as in its prime time. It was (is?) owned by Ed Dlhos who started the Green Mountain Spring Water business using the famous natural springs on the property but that too was short lived as was an attempt to ressurect the golf course on the land. Everything now lies abandoned, rotting and all butforgotten.
Excerpt From A Letter Published in 1915
Between the two ranges lies the long lake, and at its southernmost tip is old Ticonderoga, a fort on the alert for three centuries and now, alas! sleeping lazily through the Sabbath day.
It is dangerous to have this generally known, for any one of the enemy Indian, French, American, or Briton, to name the besiegers in their turn could seize the fort, single-handed, as it snoozes through a Sunday.
We did not learn this until we had turned south at Sudbury and descended at Hyde Manor for luncheon. It was Mr. Hyde who told us. From father to son for over a century this fine old house has been open to guests. It is far enough from the centre of things now to satisfy a Thoreau or John Burroughs, but once it was the main posting inn on the highway leading up from Albany.
Summer boarders are now entertained there summer boarders with "references" the only chilling thought to be associated with a place of so much evident good cheer. By assuming our best manner we remained for an hour or two without creating distrust, and so far as I am concerned I could have put off our trip indefinitely to sit by the side of the present Boniface and learn of Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Skenesborough, and all those acres round about, which had been fought over from the wars of the seventeenth century to the last battle on the lake in 1814.
In the writing-room of the Manor there is a high black marble mantelpiece. We were accustomed to smaller affairs of this Victorian mould in our houses of the Middle West. But this generously proportioned specimen had been made for a Southern plantation in 1860, and the Civil War, enforcing camp-fires for warm hearths, had so curtailed the orders that Vermont house-holders had been able to buyÑno doubt at a bargainÑthe extravagances of their enemy.
There was a scrap of a fire in the grate, and comfortable chairs of an earlier period drawn up before the blaze, and there is no more comfort-able way of acquiring knowledge than to sit in one of these chairs and listen to Mr. Hyde as he sits in another. Mr. Hyde's father was one of those who carried a gun when he attended service on Sunday, and he knew what he was talking about. But I did not always agree with him, although I did not say so, mindful that we had no "references" with us and must be circumspect in our behaviour.
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