This beautiful old fieldstone inn was constructed by German stonemasons. They were commissioned by Andrew Zettler who purchased the property in November, 1858. Over the years, there have been about twenty-four owners, the present owner being Bryan Schenk, who bought the hotel in December, 2001.
Bryan grew up near the town of Neustadt, and has fond memories of coming to the old hotel with his grandfather, Noah Schenk. Once a year, Noah and Louis Himmler would sit down over a glass of port and complete a business transaction. Bryan later learned that Louis Himmler held the mortgage on his grandfather's farm. Incidently, Louis also owned the Neustadt Hotel from 1899 to 1922.
Bryan's grandfather might be pleased to know the hotel has been newly named in honour of him - Noah's Inn.
More Inn History
In November of 1859, Andrew Zettler from Bavaria, Germany, purchased a newly surveyed lot, at the corner of Stephana and Mill St. in the village of Neustadt, from the original owner, David Winkler. During that winter, Andrew went about selecting materials for the construction of a random field stone, Georgian style hotel. The following spring, with the help of his carpenter brother Peter, he set about the construction of the two and one half storey, 40' by 32' Commercial Hotel, with a 16' by 40' one storey kitchen and living quarters on the east side. Across a courtyard to the north they built a post and beam stable to accommodate animals and feed. The local newspaper, "Der Wachter Am Saugeen" published in German in 1872, lists the Commercial Hotel as one of six Hotels operating in the village, at that time. Four of the Hotels, all located on Mill St., were joined to Huether's Brewery, by an underground tunnel. The tunnel ran east from the Brewery, through the bottom of Winkler's Mill, then north along the west side of Mill St., where it branched off to service the hotels. A wooden door near the southwest corner of Noah's basement still leads into a portion of the tunnel. Unfortunately the branches crossing Mill St. were damaged by road and water main construction. A large portion is still intact along Mill St.
Since 1859, the hotel has had 25 registered owners. Some prominent names are Voltz, Himmler, Becker. Himmelspach, Crockford, Sickel, Barry, Hunter, Elen and Waller. Over the years the the hotel went from being heated by five wood stoves, to central hot water heating and from an artesian well and two cisterns to town water supply. A series of renovations have enhanced the uniqueness of the architecture and the beauty of the interior. During prohibition, the owners supplied room and board to travelers and itinerate farm workers. Even the attic was devided into bedrooms with walls constructed from packing cases. Names like Weber's Hardware and Grand Trunk Railroad are stenciled on the boards.
After renovations, the Hotel reopened in July 2006 as Noah's Inn, with Casual Fine Dining, a Bar and overnight accommodation.
About the Environment
In an attempt to be as GREEN as possible, Noah's Inn purchases as much local product as is available. Suppliers like West Grey Premium Meats, Filsinger's Organic Farm, Mildmay Cheese House, Pitt Produce, Barrie's Asparagus, Cameron's Potatoes and of course Neustadt Spring's Brewery are the more prominent. Our desserts are made in house and our breads, made without preservatives, come from a local baker. We stock a good selection of Ontario Wines and Ontario Craft Beer. Mountain View Estates supplies us with Organic and Fair Trade Coffee and Tea. Our flour comes from the P&H flour mill in nearby Hanover. We do not use a commercial deep fryer to avoid heart harmful, hydrogenated oils.
We have an extensive Green Cone composting and recycling program which limits our land fill garbage to less than 2 bags per week. The green bags we use are biodegradable. Our take out food containers are compostable as are our hot beverages cups. We use a high temp. dishwasher to avoid the use of chlorine and other harmful chemicals and low-flow nozzles and fixtures to conserve water. Our linens are all done in house. Where possible we have converted to low wattage lighting.
Neustadt
Learn more about Neustadt.