By Judy Shuler
Hotel Lenhart defied the odds. When George Anson Johnston, Jr. died in 2001, management of the Hotel Lenhart passed to his niece and nephew, Bebe Johnston and John Lenhart Johnston, Jr. and John’s wife Deborah, from the third generation to the fourth. Bebe and John’s parents, John and Jane Johnston, managed the hotel with George until they passed away in 1999 and 2000. Only three percent of family-owned businesses survive into the fourth generation.
John Johnston was married at the hotel. They both have had high school proms and reunions there, along with countless others who have observed special occasions in the Bemus Point hotel. In 1880, Dr. J. J. Lenhart and his wife Dora built a small boarding house on the site of the current hotel while he continued his medical practice. Taking note of the great demand for vacation spots on Chautauqua Lake, they built the first hotel bearing the family name near the ferry landing, with 40 sleeping rooms and a broad veranda offering expansive views of Chautauqua Lake. It opened to guests in 1882. In the mid and late 1880s hotels large and small were booked through the summer.
They completely redecorated in 1890. At the close of the 1891 summer season, a paper and trash fire escaped from the fireplace and leveled the building. Drawing up plans for an even larger hotel, they were ready to accept guests the following June. The new hotel featured 185 feet of veranda wrapping around three sides; today it holds 40 of their iconic multi-color rocking chairs.
But for a business that operates only between Memorial Day and Labor Day, COVID really did them in, Bebe Johnston says. The dining room was closed for three years; rooms were closed for one year. For the first time in 142 years, the hotel will be leaving the Lenhart/Johnston family.
Bill and Jill Curry from the Pittsburgh area are in the process of buying the Hotel Lenhart. The sale is expected to close in October, Johnston says. The prospective owners did a public presentation on their anticipated updates, and plans filed with the Bemus Point Planning and Zoning Commission can be seen at Bemus Point Village Hall, 13 Alburtus Ave. Buyers told Bemus Point residents they plan to retain the name and ambience while introducing amenities today’s travelers expect.
Even today it is a “step back in time.” The hotel was originally built without plumbing or electricity and some rooms still do not have a private bathroom, though all have a sink. There are no phones or televisions in the rooms. Payment is by cash or check only, credit cards are not accepted. Wi-Fi is the only concession to modern world, added when a motorcycle group made up of businessmen from New York City/NJ booked rooms and needed internet access.
Three houses behind the hotel are included with the sale. One was the house she and her brother grew up in, one was a rental occupied by her niece and one was the Lenhart/Johnston family home. When the sale was a foregone conclusion, Bebe bought a home in Florida last year. John and his wife will travel for a year then settle in the Pittsburgh area.
The Hotel Lenhart is one of only two surviving grand hotels from their heyday on Chautauqua Lake. The other, constructed a year later, is the Athenaeum Hotel within the grounds of Chautauqua Institution.
Walter Rittman is now in his 14th year as bartender at the hotel’s Lamplighter Cocktail Lounge. Growing up in the area, he patronized the lounge as a young man.
“I traveled constantly.” During the years he worked in both New York and Los Angeles, his commute often flew over Chautauqua Lake. Knowing he wanted to return to area, he bought a retirement house in Ashville. He works the “afternoon crowd.”
“We have a very loyal crowd that has come for years and years and years.” When he started 14 years ago, he served people who had already been coming 15-20 years. “All the locals come in the afternoon. It’s just a traditional place to go.” Tourists sit outside on the lawn or porch, the regulars are inside, he explains. “It’s an unbelievable end of an era,” he adds.
Many have asked Johnston what she will miss most. “I’m going to miss the guests. We have family here for generations. People come year after year. Some I’ll probably never see again.”
For more on the history of the Hotel Lenhart, see hotellenhart.com.