Hudson Inn History      I want to welcome you to the Hudson Inn website. It gives me great pleasure to share the history of this beautiful six-bedroom Queen Anne structure. Thirty years ago I went to my first B&B and fell in love with it. Since then I dreamed of owning and operating my own B&B…one day. After 20 years of marriage and raising two wonderful children, I was on my own and working part time at the local library. I believed my dream had died but the Good Lord had bigger plans for my life.      Since then I have worked full time outside the home, finished my bachelor’s degree in Business, & went to Macomb’s Culinary School. After five years, I bought my home in December 2000 with the sole purpose of turning it into a bed & breakfast. I live here full time and continue to work full time outside the home. Have you ever seen the movie “The Money Pit”? It’s the reason for the day job!      The house has been a private home since its construction in 1901 by retired Great Lakes Navy Captain William F. Millen. He was one of the sons of Hyland Millen of Millen’s Bay, New York. Millen’s Bay is about halfway between Cape Vincent & Clayton, New York on the bank of the St. Lawrence River. Hyland Millen & his family owned what was called the Halfway House, a hotel type place. William Millen and his family moved to Romeo sometime around 1880-1885. They lived in a house on the East side of First Street, across from the Dyer Place until he built this house at 198 West St. Clair. The architect was William Russell. The Millens lived in this home from 1901 -1952 when they sold it to Marseline Reemer Page.  Over the years, the McKenzie’s, the Rowe’s, and the Hudson’s (no relation to me!) have made this their home. Before I could open up the B&B I had a few “jobs” that needed my attention. The first project was to preserve the barn. The back half of the barn’s roof was damaged when a tree fell on it in 1976! With 24 years of neglect, I had to tear off the entire back half of the rotten roof, the back wall, and the attached lien-to. I kept the cement slab (one day to become a patio/porch) but chose to rebuild the barn back to its original size…a conventional three-stall horse & carriage barn. The Captain’s weathervane will continue to soar high above the cupola for another 100 years & I am very proud to have been able to save a beautiful piece of Romeo's history.      Next I tackled the bathrooms. The second story only had a half bath for four bedrooms so I took the back half of the closet in the Golden Rod Room and turned it into a shower room. The bathroom on the lower level was originally a half bath also. I enlarged it and put in a two-person tiled shower. Very romantic!!     Originally the first floor bathroom was two separate rooms. Both small rooms had to be gutted. The best part was finding the original beaded board under two layers of drywall. It was painted a multitude of pinks, purples, & bright green so…I turned them over and used the original wood side. Next I had to remove many layers of flooring. I took up four floors before I came upon oak parquet. Although there are at least four more floors under this one, I decided to stop and expose this beauty for all to see. More bathrooms are planned and will be added as my business grows.        When the kitchen, dining room and front porch ceilings started to leak I had to “bite the bullet” and replace the roof. It was stripped down to the original cedar shakes and re-roofed.      The boiler furnace was 45 years old and rusted through. In its place I now have two smaller hot water boilers along with a new hot water heater and never before…air conditioning.      In 2001, I was denied approval from the Village to open for business because I did not own my own driveway. I found out later that I only owned 12” of my next-door neighbor’s dirt driveway! Adding a driveway to a 106-year-old home & property is not easy!! Because I live in a residential area, the village will not allow me to have a sign out front indicating that this is a bed & breakfast. That is why I have a very tall bird bath style statue in my front yard.      The best part of restoration is adding the finishing touches…wallpaper, paint, stain & decorations. I bought five different bedding ensembles and decorated the bedrooms around them. While I was married, we collected antiques…a lot! So I display them all rather than keep them in cupboards.      Three years ago, I started the restoration of the wrap-around front porch that had been neglected like the barn was. Rotten wood was replaced with a new floor and steps. Footings had to be reinforced. I am stripping 107 years worth of paint off of the remaining wood. I figure it will take me another 2-3 years until it is completely restored. Then I will start removing the aluminum siding from the house and restore the wood siding to its original glory!      Once again, thank you for checking out the Hudson Inn website. I hope to see you soon! Lori Hudson, Owner/Innkeeper