Apr 11, 2017 2 min read

Washington and Greene counties, like the rest of the region, are steeped in history. You’d be hard-pressed to drive a mile or two on some roads without encountering a marker denoting a historical landmark, or passing by a structure that’s been around since George Washington or Thomas Jefferson were in the White House.

Because of the pride residents have in local history, and its potential to draw visitors from elsewhere, it was particularly devastating when the Century Inn in Scenery Hill caught fire in August 2015. Dating to 1788, it was a stagecoach stop that hosted presidents and later housed a restaurant and a collection of art and antiques. With much of the interior destroyed, the fate of the Century Inn was an open question. Was it going to have to live on only in memory?

Fortunately, the stone walls of the Century Inn were saved, and it was announced last weekend by owner Megin Harrington that it could be reopening this fall.

The interior is being demolished, Harrington said, and it will have to meet modern code requirements. But she is already on her way to restocking the collection of antiques and is doing so at a moment when prices have gone down because of younger people not catching the antiques bug.

May the Century Inn last another century. Or two.