The American Hotel: 1831
eorge Shearman began to break up his homestead in 1829; he was building a gristmill with Solomon G. Weaver where Fox's Mill was built much later, and he moved his residence there, just out side the modern village limit.
He sold this large (85 feet wide on Main St.) parcel to Stephen Herrick of New York City in 1829, and Herrick sold it to William Cuyler only two years later. Cuyler laid out for himself two store lots on the southernmost 32 feet, leaving 53 feet still vacant, except for Shearman's old house and barn, both of which were set quite far back in the lot.
Cuyler is known to have sold some property here to Caleb P. Fulton, as the transaction is mentioned in a later deed; but it was a contract, not a deed and was left unrecorded. What was recorded, however, was an agreement between Fulton and the innkeeper Samuel Cobb for the latter to build and operate an hotel on the site. The agreement was in the nature of a lease for four years.
Fulton was to build an addition to the buildings already on the premises, which was to be 30 feet by 56 feet and two stories high. It was to extend lengthwise from the northwest corner of the old house toward Main Street; with a portico in front and a cellar underneath 17 feet by 30 feet. The whole was to be divided into a "bar, bar room, dining hall, ball room and bed rooms such as will be convenient for a tavern and according to a draft lately made by William Higgins, the inside to be well painted, the outside to be painted white with two chimneys and a stove in the bar room; the north room below in the building now on the premises and the room next east and adjoining it are to be made into one room." I have added punctuation where it seemed appropriate, since there is none whatever in the original.
A barn or carriage house was to be built 40 feet by 50 feet with a row of stalls on each side. Also a well in "such place as will be most convenient for the house."
Fulton was to lease furniture to Cobb as well during the four-year term of the lease of real estate and buildings. This comprised one side board, two bureaus, one dozen fancy chairs, three cherry dining tables, two cherry tea tables, twelve French bedsteads, one clock, one large looking glass, twelve beds and bedding, two sheets to each bed, one pair brass andirons, two pair brass candlesticks, one carpet, one locker, twelve bed cords, and crockery to the amount of $30. This inventory is pretty much verbatim, with the addition of punctuation and correction of spelling.
In return, Cobb was to pay an annual rent of $475, paid quarterly. He was to pay the taxes on the place, keep it as "a good and respectable tavern," and return buildings and furniture in as good condition as he received them, "necessary wear and tare and accidents by fire excepted."
The buildings were to be completed so Cobb could take possession by the following July (only three months!) and the well dug by September. If the work ran late, Cobb didn't have to pay rent until he actually was in possession.
The document was signed March 28th, and the following day Fulton received $80 and a bay horse from Cobb, to seal the bargain.
This must have been quite an elegant building, and apparently Cobb, who had operated at least two other inns in Penn Yan, built up quite a reputation for it. The American Hotel was in many ways the heart of the village, and it seems a pity that it was apparently never photographed or even sketched. It burned to the ground in 1857 -- arson was suspected, but I think never proved -- and took much of the block with it, all the way down to what is now 103 Main. In 1857 this would have been the hotel itself, Cuyler's two stores, Harris & Stevens' double store and the four stores standing where the Raymond Block is now; all to be rebuilt.
Above: The area in yellow shows the lot on which the American Hotel was built in 1831. The alley running behind the stores to the hotel's south was defined in easements stated in each store's deed; it was held in common by all the stores' owners, and provided a rear loading area accessible from Jacob Street.
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William T. Cuyler bought this part of the old Shearman homestead in 1831; almost immediately he entered a contract with Caleb P. Fulton, who built the American Hotel for Samuel Cobb, the first of several innkeepers. The hotel burned in 1857.
