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Chateau Hathorn participates of Orange County Historic Tavern Trail program

| 05 Sep 2016 | 12:34
    Photos by Roger Gavan On Friday, Aug. 25, the Chateau Hathorn Restaurant, 33 Hathorn Road, was the last Warwick restaurant for this season to participate in the Orange County Tourism "Historic Tavern Trail of the Hudson Valley." The front entrance and steps were recently renovated.
    Photos by Roger Gavan On Friday, Aug. 25, the Chateau Hathorn Restaurant, 33 Hathorn Road, was the last Warwick restaurant for this season to participate in the Orange County Tourism "Historic Tavern Trail of the Hudson Valley." The front entrance and steps were recently renovated.
    At the Chateau Hathorn, the guest speaker for the evening was Village of Warwick Historian Jean Beattie May.
    At the Chateau Hathorn, the guest speaker for the evening was Village of Warwick Historian Jean Beattie May.

WARWICK — On Aug. 25, the Chateau Hathorn Restaurant, 33 Hathorn Road, was the last Warwick restaurant for this season to participate in the Orange County Tourism "Historic Tavern Trail of the Hudson Valley."
The program, launched this year, features a last-Friday-night-of-the-month event series, from April through October, highlighting historic Orange County taverns.
In Warwick, the first restaurant to participate this year was The Iron Forge Inn, in Bellvale, a Revolutionary era home built circa 1760.
Future programs after this year are planned to include historic buildings now home to other local restaurants such as The Landmark Inn and Silvio's Villa.
Each event is also preceded by an "Early Bird Tour" at a nearby local historical museum or site. Then the tavern event begins with a cocktail reception. At 6 p.m. each evening's entertainment includes a short talk about the tavern and community history by a local historian followed by an optional dinner at 7 p.m.
At the Chateau Hathorn the guest speaker for the evening was Village of Warwick Historian Jean Beattie May.
She explained that the Chateau Hathorn was a mansion built in 1891 for businessman Victor Audubon Wilder, and was designed by the noted Arts & Crafts-Style architect E.G.W. Dietrich.
The estate fell on hard times during The Great Depression of the 1930s and in the 1950s became an equestrian center, the Warwick Dude Ranch.
It was restored to its former glory and reborn as a grand restaurant reminiscent of the great chateaux of Europe by the evening's hosts, Dolph and Helene Zueger, who bought and restored the property in 1984.
They established a fine restaurant with historically accurate dining rooms, an award-winning wine cellar, and seven-suite B&B that they still operate today.
"The Tavern Trail events are the perfect social night out for those who love history, and who enjoy meeting up with other like-minded history buffs," said Orange County Historian, Johanna Yaun. "Not only do we raffle off great prizes like gift certificates and collectors' items, but we also meet in, and learn about, some of Orange County's greatest landmark taverns, and the surrounding area. "
For additional information and other upcoming Historic Tavern Trail events, visit Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/taverntrail/, call the Orange County Historian's office at 845-360-6978, or email MGoff@orangecountygov.com.
- Roger Gavan