The Americans Arrive

In 1886 a family from my birthplace of Baltimore, Maryland, “discovered” the village of North Hatley. Dr. Powhatan Clarke and his wife so liked their summer here, away from the heat and humidity of Baltimore, yet not in the politically offensive “north” (remember, this was only 21 years after the end of the American Civil War), that they returned the following summer, bringing with them several other southern families. There is a story about visitors arriving by train who closed the blinds on their carriage windows so they didn’t have to look at the Yankee states as the train passed through. (Probably apocryphal, it is too good a story for a southern girl to let pass.) 

The families who came with Dr. Clarke and his wife were equally enchanted. They returned and brought other Americans with them, from Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta and Richmond. By July 1900, over 800 summer boarders were filling the village, coming from most states in the union. Tourism had arrived in North Hatley, big time. And so, Glen Villa Inn was built by local entrepreneur G.A. LeBaron.

Glen Villa Inn

Out of the Ashes

A Potted History