History of The "Fair Haven Inn"

Joseph Adams was in the marble business at Fair Haven. He built his house that was in the back of the park, (a marble structure in 1860-61.) Up the hill on Adams Street and South Side of the park he built a marble structure for his son in 1861 and he built the structure here (Fair Haven Inn) for his daughter, Helen Adams Colten in 1862.Later the house was acquired and called the Cottage Hotel. The name was changed to the Fair Haven Inn in 1910.For many years after 1900, young girls took piano lessons in the front room from Bessie Merriam.

Others were friends and classmates of John and Tom Perry, whose parents owned the Inn and lived here. Their father Dwight Perry was proprietor and Tom Perry was born here in room number 10.Over the years the Inn was owned by different local families of which the Kilburn's and Sweeny's were a few.

In 1972, John Lemnotis purchased the Fair Haven Inn. In 1976 he put a restaurant in for his son, in the front room, as no restaurant was here prior.

As business grew, each year, many restorations took place. Finally, in the summer of 1993, the Inn's restoration was complete. On October 14, 1993 around 12:10 A.M., a fire started in the wood stove which was improperly installed without a thimble. The inn was totally destroyed by the fire.

Many hours of planning by John Lemnotis and his wife, Faith, went into planning the new Fair Haven Inn.

Aside from being only one story high, the plans for the new Inn mostly followed the old Inn as we knew it. The building is roomier than before, with the kitchen three times larger than the old one. The main dining room is still the "Greek Room" with it's Greek decor. The "Fair Haven Room" is a banquet room with a dance floor, fire place, and is adorned with enlarged and framed pictures of Fair Haven on the walls.

The new Fair Haven Inn arose from the ashes and reopened on May 1, 1994 with Governor Howard Dean and Barbara Snelling cutting the ribbon.

Now the INN is proudly owned by Mr and Mrs Ieremias who bought the establishment from the Lemnotis Family.