THE WELLS HOUSE
* is located at 6 Olmstedville Road in Pottersville.
* during the fall and winter room rates range from $115 to $140, and $135 to $160 during the spring and summer.
* can be reached at 494-5995, or visited at www.thewellshouseny.com.
POTTERSVILLE -- Local legend has it that in its day, The Wells House hosted such celebrities as famed baseball slugger Babe Ruth.
But after 162 years standing on the same corner in Pottersville, the prestige of The Wells House has been eroded by time, footsteps and oil stains.
It was these oil stains that inspired Paul and Shirley Bubar to do everything they could to save the old hotel, fix it up, and then pass the torch to a younger couple who could do even more to restore The Wells House glory.
And that's exactly what they've done.
After five years, the Bubars are selling The Wells House to Vin and Marian McCann, a couple from Adirondack who want to see the landmark thriving once again.
The Bubar's part
Paul and Shirley Bubar live about 300 feet from The Wells House, and spent years passing by, wondering what fate would next befall the hotel.
"We'd say, 'What a pity,' because it had become a biker bar," Paul Bubar said.
Traces of oil stains left by motorcycles, which were sometimes ridden right into The Wells House, are still visible on the hardwood floors, he added, looking amazed that such behavior was allowed.
The slow decay, however, was more than the Bubars could bear, and when the historic building went up for sale several years ago, they did everything in their power to buy it and save it.
"We didn't have any money -- we mortgaged our house to buy the place," Paul Bubar said.
But still, after purchasing The Wells House in December 2003, the couple managed to get it going as a hotel again in August 2005 after installing a sprinkler system, painting inside and outside, buying furniture, redoing all the rooms and opening the Village Coffee Shop inside the building to boot.
Yet even after all this work, the Bubars came to an impasse.
"We made the mistake many people make," Paul Bubar said. "We put all our money into renovating and fixing it up, and when it came time to advertise and start getting the word out, there was no money left."
Now though, with new owners ready to take the helm, new resources and ideas are available to continue the reconstruction.
"These folks will take The Wells House to a whole new level," Paul Bubar said of the McCanns.
The McCann's plans
When Vin and Marian McCann bought a home in the small town of Adirondack six years ago, they began searching for something special to do.
"We've both been in the restaurant and hospitality business for a lot of years," Marian McCann said. "I had my own business -- a special events florist on Long Island, which I sold three years ago."
Vin McCann teaches at New York University and the Institute of Culinary Education.
"The restaurant business is something that just stays with you," he said.
"And this just seemed, size-wise, perfect for us," his wife added.
Together, the McCanns will take their knowledge of the hospitality industry and use it to run The Wells House not only as a quaint, comfortable, mountain hotel, but as a place of fine dining as well.
"Paul and Shirley have operated the Village Coffee Shop, and we'll turn it into a cafe with wine, beer and comfort food," Paul McCann said. "It'll be the Once Upon a Moose Cafe."
They chose that name, he added, because of the large moose head, affectionately known as Mortimer, that hangs in the hotel's main lobby.
While the McCanns don't expect the cafe to open until several weeks after the restaurant does, they plan to have the restaurant up and running by the end of the month.
The restaurant, which will serve American-style foods, will open at the same time the McCanns begin renting out the hotel's 11 rooms.
And the rooms, so far, have been the jewel of The Wells House.
"They did a great job with them. For the most part, they sell themselves," Vin McCann said of the Bubars' work. "They all have colored TV, cable, memory foam mattresses and Wi-Fi."
Indeed, when the Bubars reopened The Wells House as a hotel in 2005, they noticed immediately that returning guests had their favorite rooms.
The rooms, which are named after colors like green, rose, red and lavender, are all themed, and each one has hand-painted phrases that inspired the Bubars.
One, in graceful, looping script says "all my love" across the wall, while another says "cherish simple things."
"When you have a small place like The Wells House, it's just perfect to personalize it," said Shirley Bubar, looking fondly into one room after another as she gave a tour. "People will come and say, 'I want to stay in the it's-never-too-late-to-live-happily-ever-after room.' "
Such evident interest from individuals -- and the likely potential for more -- was one reason the Bubars chose to save The Wells House.
Why save it
"It's in a fabulous location," Paul Bubar said. "It's the only hotel that can be seen from the Northway from here to Plattsburgh, and something like 20,000 cars a day travel by on Route 87 and Route 9."
With all these prospective customers going by, the McCanns are positive The Wells House will spark a renewed and strengthened interest in the community, but they are realistic about the time it will take.
"I think, over time, you can only ever get people to come in through word of mouth," Vin McCann said.
And word of mouth is already working in favor of the old building, which started its life as a hotel when it was built in 1845.
Barbara Fulforth, who volunteers as The Wells House receptionist, remembered one family that came in recently after hearing the establishment had reopened.
"We had a family who brought their mother back here. She had her wedding reception here," Fulforth said, smiling. "She came back with her family and said, 'It's 50 years ago when I sat in this dinning room.' "
Memories like these -- above and beyond any economic success The Wells House might realize -- are what really made the place worth salvaging for the Bubars and McCanns.
"I think it's why Paul and Shirley did what they did," Vin McCann said. "In many ways, it's the center of the town."
Paul Bubar nodded and glanced down a short hallway filled with old photos and old ledgers from the early 1900s.
"If your grandmother and grandfather got married here, or your parents did -- even if you'd never been in here -- it'd be a part of your history," he said. "And for 70 percent of people here, it's part of their history."