Date: Fri 03-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Hawley-Manor-Inn

Full Text:

The Hawley Manor's History Has Had Many Chapters

(with cuts)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

When Emilie Harasymczuk graduated from Hawley High School in 1939, she knew

exactly what she wanted to do - work as a waitress at the Hawley Manor Inn.

But Emilie was only 17 and her parents were very strict. She had to stay on

the family farm on Brushy Hill Road until she turned 18. As soon as that

happened, however, she left the farm and moved into town to work at the new

inn on Main Street.

"It was a beautiful place with beautiful gardens," she said. "I worked six and

a half days a week as a waitress and as general help. That's the way they did

it then. But I also lived there so I had room and board."

The minute Eleanor Mayer turned 16 she also started working part-time at the

inn, commuting there in a 1931 Chevy. She worked there part-time and full-time

for more than ten years. The two women agree that the inn was a great place to

work.

"In the early years there was no liquor and selling liquor there [later]

created a big controversy," Eleanor Mayer said. "The inn had been the home of

[town benefactress] Mary Elizabeth Hawley [who died in 1930]. She tore down

the old Newtown Inn just to get rid of it and used the land for the library."

The Hawley Manor was a safe place for young women to live and work. Many of

the guests, like Mrs Charles Peck, lived there year-around. Mrs Peck's husband

had been adjutant physician to Gen John Pershing, who commanded army units in

the Spanish-American War and later led an American expeditionary force during

World War I.

"Mrs Peck had two rooms - the only suite in the whole place - and a bird

feeder outside her window," Emilie Harasymczuk said.

A few of the long-term guests lived at the inn only during the winter to save

fuel by shutting up their homes, especially during World War II when fuel was

scarce. Each waitress was assigned a few house guests who had regular tables

in the dining room.

"We had a few transients, but not too many empty rooms," Ms Harasymczuk said.

"Mostly we had steady guests."

"Emilie really ran the place with an iron hand," Eleanor Mayer said. "In the

summers a lot of college girls worked there. Their goal was to raise $1,000

for school."

At one point during the war, Emilie was the only waitress. "Oh boy, I really

had to move," she recalled. "There was a bell in the tower that we'd ring when

the whistle blew for an [air raid practice] alert. I rang it so hard that I

broke it."

At first she worked for Mr and Mrs William Hunter. "Every New Year's Day the

Hunters would hold an open house and all the townsfolk would be invited to

drop in," she said. "It was a very popular tradition."

There was a huge dining room and a glassed-in porch which could be closed off

during the winter. "We only used it on Sundays - we had a big kerosene heater

- because we didn't have heat in that room," she said. "When it snowed, we

went skiing on Main Street. There was very little traffic then and they

wouldn't plow until after the snowstorm had stopped."

"The Hunters had no children, but Mrs Hunter's father, Mr Syme, came to live

with them after his wife died. They also had two cats, Muff and Fluff, and

many of the guests had their dogs with them."

One of the guest rooms was in a converted tool shed and was affectionately

called "The Honeymoon Cabin." It was only used in the spring and summer

because it didn't have any heat - it was very rustic.

"The Hunters sold the inn just after 1945 when the war ended," Emilie

Harasymczuk said. "That's when the Bowens bought it."

Mrs Bowen, now Eloise Bowen-Singer, 91, of Nokomis, Fla., said that she and

her husband, William, were having dinner with the George Mentleys on Taunton

Hill Road. Over polite conversation the Mentleys suggested that the Bowens,

who were involved in real estate, hotels and restaurants, look at the Hawley

Manor, which was for sale.

"Needless to say, I fell in love with the place," Mrs Bowen-Singer said.

At that time, Eli Bruce was the chef.

"He had been a baker in Brattleboro, Vt., and he still made all kinds of

wonderful baked goods," Eleanor Mayer recalled. "One Sunday he was cooking

ducks in the oven and had a pipe in his mouth when he opened the oven door.

The whole kitchen exploded, dishes came off the shelves and the water pipes

broke."

The explosion burned the chef's face and most of his mustache.

"They took him to Dr Desmond's and he was laid up for the rest of the day," Ms

Mayer said.

The Bowen Years

The Bowens made some major changes in the inn. When they purchased the inn and

its five acres, the inn consisted of the main building with several upstairs

bedrooms, the carriage house with the clock tower and a few small

outbuildings. The Bowens added a fireplace in the dining room and remodeled

the kitchen, adding a dishwasher, commercial ranges and refrigeration units. A

two-story addition containing six bedrooms and baths was built to connect the

main house and the carriage house.

The outbuildings - an ice house and chicken coops - were converted into

pine-paneled guest quarters. The garages in the carriage house also were

converted into guest rooms. Later a three-room apartment was added onto the

back of the carriage house.

"We had a large auction about that time which sold most of the antiques from

earlier years," recalled the Bowen's son, Col Ralph Bowen, (USAF Ret). "But

the two bronze St Bernard dog statues on the side lawn were still in existence

as were the two greyhounds at the driveway entrance."

There also was a gift shop on the first floor of the carriage house for

several years.

"Without sounding too complimentary to ourselves, our dining facilities were

well known," Col Bowen said. "We catered to the original cast of South Pacific

with Mary Martin and Enzio Pinza, as well as planning the luncheon for the

[founding of the] United Nations."

"Our Saturday night Smorgasbord at $1.95 a person was well-known as were many

of the other functions such as Thanksgiving dinner for $2.25," Col Bowen said.

"We have many fond memories of Newtown, our customers and our days at the

Hawley Manor since selling it in 1952, and it is refreshing to know that many

of these customs will be revived" when the Mary Hawley Inn opens soon.

The Hawley Homestead

No one knows exactly what the original house looked like when it was built by

Dr Cyrenius H. Booth in about 1820. Dr Booth, the grandfather of Mary

Elizabeth Hawley, lived in the house and ran his medical practice there until

he died in 1871. The next year his daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Marcus

Hawley of Bridgeport, renovated it extensively. They moved in with their

teenage daughter a year later.

Dr Booth was wealthy but the Hawleys were wealthier. Marcus Hawley's fortune

came from his father's hardware business which boomed with the discovery of

gold in California. The Hawleys also built the house and cottage next to the

carriage house, then an annex to the main house called Fern Cottage, now owned

by neighbor Edwin Baumer.

Mary Hawley hired the late Charles Steck, Sr, of Bethel to plant a half-acre

garden, complete with gazebo, grapevines, and arbor, which can be seen on old

postcards but was later paved for the inn's parking lot.

There were many more changes after February 1931 when F.W. Scott of New York

bought the manor and opened it as a restaurant in the summer of that year.

William Hunter bought the inn from Scott in 1934 and ran it until 1945 when

Eloise Bowen and her husband, William, bought it. Mrs Bowen, now Eloise

Bowen-Singer, is 91 and lives in Nokomis, Fla., with her son.

The Singers sold the manor to Ken and Ruth Hathaway in 1952. Hathaway sold the

manor and 3.11 acres to Lowell Hodgkins and Associates of Bridgeport for

$250,000 in 1970. It was operated by the Vazzano family of Stratford until

1994. In August 1996, the property was sold to Hawley Inn LLC for $475,000,

and work began on a complete renovation including demolition of many of the

outbuilding conversions. The new Mary Hawley Inn now is expected to open

sometime this month.

Today Emilie Harasymczuk works in the bakery at Stop & Shop at Sand Hill Plaza

after retiring from Heli-Coil, a Danbury division of Black & Decker; Eleanor

Mayer operates Mayer Real Estate in Newtown, and Eloise Bowen-Singer and her

son, Ralph, are active in the day-to-day operations of their business, Spring

Hill Park Realty near Sarasota, Fla.