|
At the outset of the 20th century, Patchogue was a thriving commercial center boasting an iron forge, grist mills, a paper mill, a lace mill, tanneries and manufacturing, all powered by three strong streams. Fishing, boat-building and the oyster industries were also a big part of the local economy. Then, too, there was the booming tourist trade that fueled the hotel and real estate businesses. And Patchogue, which was incorporated in 1893, had by this time become an official U.S. port-of-entry.
It was a peaceful community with the exception of a few miscreants, such as Jim Gritling who got fined $50 (the jury was out 20 minutes) for violating the oyster regulations. There were complaints made about "small boys stealing rides on the freight trains," and the local paper, the still-surviving Patchogue Advance, gnashed its teeth over a woman who was espied tearing up an envelope and throwing the paper onto Main Street. One scandalous event at the time was brought about by the paper itself: "Owing to an error in copying records," the weekly solemnly confessed, "the marriage notice of Frederick Gordon and Annie Slovman was twisted into a birth notice last week. The error was inexcusable and we greatly regret it."
PINE GROVE INN - CIRCA 1915
The village, nonetheless, was a nice place to visit and enjoyed a robust summer tourist trade. New Yorkers, escaping the stifling heat of the city, came out in droves on the Long Island Railroad or by horse and buggy and, before long, by the horseless buggy. The automobile would soon make travel to other points on the Island much easier so that, alas, after 1920, tourism in Patchogue started to breathe its last.
Naturally, during this period the hotel business was booming. Roe's Eagle Hotel, the Old Oak, Leo's Inn, the Clifton, the Laurel and Winona were among the many establishments catering to the summer people. And, of course, there was the Pine Grove Inn, one of the era's few surviving remnants, which nestles on the eastern shore of the Swan River.
Built about 1910 as a log-cabin structure from the very pine trees the area was noted for, the Pine Grove soon became a popular watering hole and restaurant for the people who rented the new vacation bungalows nearby (the location provided easy access for the summer crowd to the ocean beaches of Fire Island). With its 14 rooms, it also served as a stopping-off point for weary travelers headed farther east, which, in those days, usually meant Sag Harbor.
During Prohibition, the Pine Grove became a speakeasy and was used as a storehouse for illegal booze, which was smuggled by boat in burlap bags from Fire Island and brought up the Swan River. The contraband was destined for Brooklyn, for eventual distribution to other speakeasys in the city.
Some years later, according to a reliable but understandably anonymous source, those same 14 rooms upstairs were used for purposes beyond providing respite to weary travelers. The source recently recounted how, when he was a teen in the 1930's, his doting father had given him $5 to go there for an early passage into manhood - "taking time by the forelock," as they put it in those days.
The building itself underwent very little change until it was completely renovated between the years 1946 and 1949 by Manfred Buttner, whose parents had purchased the property in 1946. The Buttners, who had come to the United States from Germany, had up until that time operated a small dairy farm in Medford, where Frederich also moonlighted as a waiter at Schaber's Restaurant.
At the time of its purchase in 1946, the Pine Grove Inn had been a tavern with American style food. The Buttners turned it into a German-style restaurant and in 1957 sold it to Erna and Rudy Bernreiter, also from Germany who had each been working at separate restaurants in New York City, he as head chef at the famed Yaeger House in Yorkville.
PINE GROVE INN - CIRCA 1958
Erna had arrived in the United States in 1952 and two years later sent for her 12-year-old son from a previous marriage, Rainer (Ray) Hombach, who had remained behind in Pforzheim after the war. Erna and Rudy had been looking to own their own restaurant and were considering a number of locations in the metropolitan area before choosing the Pine Grove Inn.
PINE GROVE INN - CIRCA 1958
Business was better than expected and in 1962 a classified ad was placed in a German-language newspaper seeking a chef to assist in the kitchen. It attracted the attention of Klaus Haase, formerly of the world-famous Ratskeller in Bremen, who remained as executive chef until his retirement in 2001. His wife, Kathy, who was a member of the original partnership group, is still at the restaurant as Office Manager.
PINE GROVE INN - CIRCA 1975
Acquired in November 2001 by the Rizzi family, formerly of Michael's at Cherry Grove, Fire Island, the Pine Grove Inn continues its tradition of fine food and service, featuring a Continental and American menu emphasizing fresh, seasonal ingredients.
PINE GROVE INN - TODAY!
|
Email: info@PineGroveInn.com 
Print this Page