Century Inn history is lost to flames in Scenery Hill
The Lozosky family celebrated many holidays and other occasions at the Century Inn.
A volunteer removes artifacts Thursday from the fire-damaged Century Inn in Scenery Hill.
SCENERY HILL – Neighbors of the historic Century Inn are hoping it will be rebuilt following a fire early Monday that gutted the stone landmark dating to 1788.
A painting, highboy china closet and large banquet table all dating to the 18th century were pulled from the rubble in recent days and sent to a restoration company that believes they can be saved, said William Harvey, a local shopkeeper and friend of the inn’s owner, Megin Harrington.
“It’s her intention to rebuild,” he said Thursday.
“It’s beginning to look like it’s possible,” said Harvey, an owner of the Elves Liar shop on Route 40 across the street from Century Inn.
He said a project manager also has agreed to work for Harrington at no cost to rebuild the inn.
The same hope is surfacing among generations of people who have gone there for dinner, to celebrate birthdays and holidays or to get married on the grounds.
Washington attorney Rachel Lozosky-Friedmann said she believes it’s possible to re-create the interior of the 20-room inn because she has toured many mansions in the South where “everything else is rebuilt, and the buildings are still vibrant.”
“I think there’s some hope,” Lozosky-Friedmann said. “There’s always hope.”
She said her great-uncle and great-aunt, William and Kathryn Huffman, once operated a farm in Deemston that produced turkeys for Century Inn after it was sold in 1945 to Gordon and Mary Amanda Harrington. Gordon Harrington and William Huffman became close friends and business associates for many years, she said.
Her parents, Dr. John and Cathy Lozosky, had their wedding reception there in 1976, she said.
“My family has a long and storied history with Century Inn,” she said. “It was engraved in the fabric of our family history.”
Lozosky-Friedmann, of Bentleyville, said she was last there in May with her husband, John, and that Megin Harrington was there wearing a hat appropriate for the Kentucky Derby and passing out derby hats to patrons in the bar.
“I was just devastated,” she said about her reaction to the news Tuesday that the fire had gutted the interior of the inn and restaurant.
“The loss is shared by my family,” she said. “Thank God there was not a death.”
John Lozosky said his July 10, 1976, wedding took place in the midst of America’s bicentennial.
“What better place for a history teacher and his bride to have a red, white and blue reception?” said Lozosky, former superintendent of Charleroi Area School District.
“And the menu, of course, was built around turkey,” he said.
Kathy and John McDonough of Speers were married there 17 years ago, and the couple spent their wedding night in one of the inn’s bedrooms.
“It was very rustic. I felt like I was back in time,” Kathy McDonough said.
The couple exchanged their vows in a gazebo in the backyard of the inn.
“It was absolutely gorgeous,” she said.
Megin Harrington said a rare flag used by the rebels during the Whiskey Rebellion was all she could immediately save, pulling it from the tavern wall the night of the fire.
As she watched firefighters battle the flames early Tuesday, she told a reporter how she and her son, Chip, ran out of the inn after he smelled smoke and called for her.
“I said, ‘Grab the flag,’ and we were able to get it out,” Harrington said.
Harrington placed a brief history of the inn on her business website explaining when it was built and mentioning some of its famous guests, including Presidents Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk. She also believed evidence surfaced suggesting President Abraham Lincoln once dined in the building.
“That Century Inn was my wife and (my) second home when we first came to Scenery Hill,” said local antiques dealer Peter Chillingworth, who has sold furnishings to the Harringtons.
Chillingworth said he showered in the inn when he first moved to the town, and that he quickly became friends with Megin Harrington’s in-laws.
“We thought a great deal of the building, its contents and the people who have been there,” he said. “Our three children essentially were raised there and they worked there.”
Jan Dunker, who lives next door to the inn and operates a tea shop, said she hasn’t given much thought to whether or not Century Inn can be saved, but has focused her attention on ensuring her neighbors of 38 years were being cared for.
“They are our neighbors first,” Dunker said. “The business part of it will come along later.”
Assistant Editor Linda M. Ritzer contributed to this report.