Owners of historic Wedgwood Inn are retiring. Are you the next New Hope innkeeper?
Carl Glassman and Nadine Silnutzer were 28 when they decided to spend their retirement years as innkeepers.
After visiting the Wedgwood Inn in New Hope, though, the couple decided, why wait?
They bought the 19th-century historic inn named after the famed British pottery collection, which they operated and expanded over the next four decades.
“The world literally came to us,” Carl Glassman said.
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Now approaching their 70s, the couple is ready to try semi-retirement, which has put the inn and adjacent property on the real estate market for the first time in 42 years.
Combined the properties offer 18-guest rooms, making it the largest bed & breakfast in the region. The couple is offering to include furnishings & other contents, making it a turnkey business opportunity.
Here is everything you need to know about the bed & breakfast, its history and its longtime innkeepers.
What is the history of the Wedgwood Inn?
The iconic New Hope landmark is steeped in local early American history.
The stone foundation dates to 1720. The original structure served as “The Fort” during the American Revolution when it was used to protect Coryell’s Ferry Slip from British invasion.
The Fort and its fields hosted 1,400 soldiers and officers for three weeks before the famous turning point in the revolution, the Christmas Eve crossing of the Delaware River and Battle of Trenton led by General George Washington.
The main building was rebuilt by the Quakers in 1860, shortly before the start of the U.S. Civil War.
The later discovery of a hidden staircase, a hatch door, and stone tunnel under the property has led local historians to believe it was a station on the Underground Railroad, a secret network that helped slaves escape north in the mid 1800s.
Paranormal investigators who’ve visited several times believe the spirit of a 12-year-old slave girl named Sarah haunts the inn, Glassman said. It’s believed she somehow was separated from her parents while traveling north.
Sarah has been heard calling out for her parents “many many times,” Glassman said in 2021, but she has been seen only twice.
When did the Wedgwood Inn become a bed and breakfast?
The building was opened as a “guest house” in 1929, at the start of the Great Depression, Glassman said. It continued to accept guests after it was sold sometime in the 1950s to a couple named Shules.
The Shules gave the inn its name, after the famed English pottery that they admired, Glassman said. In 1971, they sold the property to a former Radio City Rockettes dancer named Ruth Adams, who fell in love with it when she stayed there for a visit.
Eleven years later, Adams sold it to Glassman and Silnutzer, who became the property’s fourth innkeeper-owners.
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How the Wedgwood Inn has changed over the last four decades
When the Glassmans took over the Wedgwood Inn in 1982, it was not the slate blue, late Victorian inn with wrap-around porch with gingerbread trim and breakfast gazebos on 2-½ acres in the 100 block of West Bridge Street.
“It looked like a haunted house,” Carl Glassman said.
A 20-foot Rhododendron bush blocked most of the front of the home and its white exterior was last painted before the Great Depression.
Glassman described the interior as a classic guest house with shared bathrooms and 1950’s Palm Beach vibe decor including metal-framed mattresses, wine bottles turned into lamps, green shag carpet and shiny yellow-green wallpaper.
The first two years as innkeepers, Glassman kept his full time job as a project director at a Princeton think tank as the couple fully renovated the inn, which included building an addition.
Private bathrooms were added to the 10-guest rooms which were each uniquely decorated by Silnutzer with handpicked antiques, artwork created by local artists, repurposed vintage lighting fixtures, and gas and electric fireplaces.
Of course, the couple also amassed a large collection of Wedgwood pottery.
What is the Umpleby House and how does it fit
The Umpleby House is the former home of George Umpleby, a prominent mill owner who built the Classic Revival plaster-over-stone manor home in 1833. Another owner added the Victorian-era carriage house to the rear yard in 1890.
Like its neighbor, the Wedgwood Inn, Umpleby House was built on top of a pre-Revolutionary War era foundation and the original structure served as George Washington’s Continental Army headquarters house for six years, according to local historians.
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Also like the Wedgwood, Umpleby House reportedly has its own ghosts.
The spirits of former owner Colonel Buckley and a man named Mr. Black are said to haunt this inn. Look for the light from the Colonel’s lantern bobbing through the halls.
The Glassmans purchased the property in 1985 when they found the demand for reservations was greater than their accommodations. Also, they started seeing a growing demand from businesses who wanted to host events at the inn.
The couple extensively renovated Umpleby into eight guest rooms and a one-bedroom one-bath suite in the carriage house. It also has a detached two car garage-barn.
While the property is now a bed-and-breakfast, it could be converted into a private home, Carl Glassman said.
Photos inside the historic Wedgwood Inn Be Our Guests: New Hope's Wedgwood Inn for sale for first time in 42 years. Look inside.
Do you have to buy both properties?
No. The list price for Wedgwood Inn and Umpleby House together is $4.95 million.
Alone, the Wedgwood Bed and Breakfast is listed for $2.95 million.
The Umpleby House is listed at $1.95 million as a private home or $2.45 million as a commercial property including all furnishing and contents.
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What is next for the Glassmans of the Wedgewood Inn?
The last attempt at retirement for Glassman and Silnutzer was six years ago, when they sold the 10-guest room Aaron Burr House, on the other side of West Bridge Street. They purchased it in 1990.
If they sell the properties in the next year or so, the couple “may” retire to a simple 40-hour a week job, Glassman said. They have already received offers to work front of house at local restaurants and part-time innkeepers.
Glassman plans to continue working as an innkeeper consultant. The couple run the oldest apprenticeship program of its kind in the U.S. training aspiring innkeepers.
A third edition to his book, “How to Start and Run Your Own Bed and Breakfast Inn,” has been kicking around in his head, Glassman said.
The couple is also mulling writing a cookbook featuring the Wedgwood’s most popular recipes.
Daughter, Jessica, is pitching TV producers and book publishers ideas revolving around a theme of four decades of “Guest Room Diaries,” he added.
“Maybe we’ll become reality show stars in our next chapter,” Glassman added. ‘Fawlty Towers’ meets ‘Bob Newhart.’”
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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Wedgewood Inn, New Hope landmark business, is for sale
