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Historic Saratoga Springs Inn is Home to Irish-American "Spirits"By Marian Betancourt
Saratoga Springs was named for the mineral waters that spew up from the ground. The Indians appreciated the area long before the white man came and built the spa, the race track, the fancy hotels, and the performing arts center. George Washington was also smitten with the place and after the War he wanted to invest in land there. Well, that’s all anyone needed to hear and wealthy and influential people began making pilgrimages to the springs. So Alexander Bryan, being very familiar with the area and at 42, retired from the spy business, decided it would be a great place for a hotel and pub. He built a large log house near the High Rock Spring, which the Indians called the Medicine Spring of the Great Spirit. (Bryan’s place was the only game in town until 1801 when Gideon Putnam built the Grand Union Hotel.) Bryan also built a blacksmith shop and an additional log house across the street, which he operated as a tavern. He knew spring water wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea so he offered something more potent. He built a stairway from the spring up the face of the bluff to make it easier for thirsty patrons to reach his front door. So who was this canny fellow? Alexander Bryan’s ancestors reportedly came from Armagh, Ireland in the 1600s and became prominent shipping merchants in Connecticut. Our hero was born in Stamford on February 4, 1733. As a young man he moved to upstate New York and in 1767 he married Martha Tallmadge. They had 5 sons and operated an inn near Waterford on the main road between northern and southern frontiers of the state. Now, Alexander Bryan was quite familiar with most of the people running around shooting at each other in the woods of upstate New York. He knew the French, the Indians, and the Brits, all of whom patronized his pub during various dust ups. Like any good pub operator, Bryan kept his political feelings to himself and people confided in him, not matter which side of the war they were on. When American general, Horatio Gates, wanted someone to penetrate the enemy lines and report their strength and intended movements, Bryan was his man. Our spy got the needed information, but was found out and chased on horseback for three days. Forced to abandon his exhausted horse, Bryan hid in a river with only his mouth above water. He reported his findings to General Gates, which helped the Americans win the Battle of Saratoga, the turning point of the American Revolution.
Enter Dave Powers an Irish American who grew up in Albany, became a Pan Am pilot and then got furloughed when the airline folded. “I had no idea what to do with the rest of my life so being Irish, I thought to operate a bar,” he said. Someone told him about Saratoga, which wasn’t much of a town in 1979, but there was a college there, so he figured there would be some drinkers. He went to see an old stone building that was for sale. “It was a dump with junked old cars around and a burned out gas station next door. I knocked on the door and asked the owner about it. He asked me if I’d like a beer, so I went inside. In talking we discovered that he knew my brother in high school. So we had beer after beer.” Nevertheless, Powers had no intention of buying a place he didn’t like. Before he left the owner said he really ought to check out the attic. That was the “Eureka” moment. “I fell in love with the upstairs,” said Powers. The owner was unaware the original three fireplaces were covered up with wall board. Powers found a treasure trove of antique bottles, signs and other pub paraphernalia. “It was a destruction job,” said Powers, about renovating the place by uncovering its original structure. He soon realized, “it was too beautiful for just a pub. I felt like the owner of a football team. I had a great stadium, but needed a team.”
“Sullivan was the Vince Lombardi,” Powers said. “He is the one who made the place what it is today.” This popular historical landmark restaurant and bar attracts lots townspeople, jockeys, and even Irish American celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay, who has stopped there on his way to the racetrack. Powers and Sullivan eventually opened a second restaurant, Longfellows, in a town that is once again blooming. (And by the way, it wasn’t until years later that Powers and Sullivan learned their ancestors were from the same part of Ireland, Cork.) Hospitality was the key to Alexander Bryan’s success and he was always kind to those less fortunate, a tradition that continues today with many benefits to serve the homeless and hospice residents.
All this activity has not disturbed the ghosts one bit. Countless stories are told by former and current staff. Objects move overnight, especially in the bar area, after the building is closed. The most popular ghost is Eleanor, who appears in a long green dress, and sometimes startles staff members, with a gentle touch to a cheek or an arm. (Eleanor’s Roast Turkey Melt is the sandwich named for her.) The second floor bathrooms are also a popular spirit hangout, where patrons sometimes encounter a young man in Revolutionary War garb. The Olde Bryan Inn is always included in the Saratoga Springs Ghost Walks, and ghost hunter David Pitkin included it in his book, Saratoga County Ghosts. JoAnn Moriarta (nee Foley) also Irish, handles the marketing and promotion among other things at the Inn. She also gives school children history tours of the Inn but said, “I don’t want to scare second graders with stories of ghosts.” So far, none of the ghosts has accompanied the room service deliveries of food and drink to the Saratoga Springs Courtyard. But wait a few years! If You Go Saratoga Springs Courtyard by Marriott Photos courtesy of Olde Bryan Inn |
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TM
If you happen to stay at the Saratoga Springs Courtyard,
the newest inn in this upstate New York town, you will get room service from the
oldest inn. Just around the corner from its new neighbor, the Olde Bryan Inn
was founded in 1773 by Alexander Bryan, the first permanent resident of Saratoga
Springs, who happened to be Irish and a hero of the American Revolutionary War
(he spied on the Redcoats). Now a thriving restaurant and once again operated
by the Irish, the Olde Bryan Inn, is also the most haunted building in Saratoga
Springs. No one is sure who the ghosts are—or how old they are, but one
reportedly wears a Revolutionary War uniform. Another presence so frequently
“touches” the staff that they named a sandwich after her. Judging by their
tenacity, the ghosts are probably Irish, too.
Alexander Bryan continued to operate his inn and pub in
Saratoga Springs for more than 30 years and then retired to Schoharie where he
lived to be a geezer of 92. In 1825, the year he died, his son John built a
stone house on the site of his father’s Saratoga tavern and it remained as a
single family residence in the Bryan family until the 1900s, when Alexander’s
kids and grandkids scattered to other parts of the country. Various owners
“modernized” the old Inn in a haphazard fashion over the years and it gradually
fell to ruin.
Enter Steven Francis Patrick Sullivan, obviously Irish
American. Having dabbled in antiques after college, Sullivan stopped in front of
the old building one day to inspect some church pews lined up outside, by Father
Fitzpatrick of the church up the street. This was the fateful event that led to
Powers and Sullivan becoming partners.
“He operated a great pub,” Powers said of his historic
predecessor.