| The White Horse Inn was established in 1850 by Lorenzo Hoard (1816-1888) is the oldest restaurant in Michigan that still does business the way it was intended. Located in the sleepy town of Metamora, which was then described as "a beautiful little town in the spring and summer, being blessed with an abundance of large, shady maple trees." Lorenzo purchased the existing village store, once a stagecoach stop. The stagecoach period ended around 1910.
Soon the village store was expanded and refitted it as the Hoard House. The Hoard House functioned as an inn and restaurant charging 50 cents to overnight guests.
The late Gilbert Olds bought the inn about 1917 for $2,200 and kept it until 1922 or 1923. He was remembered by the villagers for going around without wearing shoes.
Frank Peters, owned the inn during most of the Prohibition Era. He made the White Horse a financial success by promoting breakfast specials. It was Mr. Peters who changed the name from the Hoard House to the White Horse.
The "big event" of daily life during that period was when the passenger train's whistle would blow. Once the villagers heard that 6:10pm whistle the town would seem to "come alive". Everyone would go to the train depot to see who would board and also come off the train, watch them unload milk cans and they would follow the mail up to the Post Office and sit around visiting and waiting for their mail to be distributed.
After the mail, they would go down to the White Horse Inn, sit in the captain's chairs and talk until bedtime.
The History of the White Horse includes the names of some of the earliest pioneers. Daniel Ammerman built the Inn in 1850. After serveral changes of ownership, it passed to the Hoard family. By 1858 Hoard was paying $50 a year in taxes on the Inn.
About 1872, the Michigan Central Railroad built its line through Metamora and Hoard received a franchise to feed and house overnight passengers. By 1874, Metamora had 271 residents.
The Hoard House was listed in the 1876 Atlas of Lapeer County as having "good accommodations for travelers. Feed and stabling for horses."
Lorenzo Hoard died in 1888. Family managed the Hoard House until it was sold in 1906 to William Detter and Samuel Miller. This partnership presented the sale of liquor to their customers.
Since 1906 the White Horse Inn has passed through over a dozen owners hands. All committed in keeping the first building erected in Metamora in tact. A portion of the town's early wooden sidewalk still remains as part of the Tavern room floor. Today it is owned by restaurateur Tim Wilkins who added Historic to the Inn's title. Trading his 30 years of experience in the metropolitan Detroit restaurant industry for the challenge of operating and maintaining a 158 year old local tradition. Tim is also the restaurant's Chef. The Historic White Horse Inn is still family run. At his side is his wife Lisa and daughters Jennifer and Ashley. Over the years, the building has been enlarged and modernized while maintaining it's historic and country charm. The Wilkins Family believes that with 159 years of changes, some things remain the same: our commitment to the community, good food, alot of it, and often returning friends.
|