Reilly DeBow holding a large $10 BerkShare
By Katy Sparks
A young family who had their eye on the Berkshires for years recently purchasedthe former Wainwright Inn on Great Barrington’s Main Street, and they are making their mark with their lively and engaging brand of hospitality.
Katy Sparks: Reilly, how did you got into the business of inn keeping? And what made you take over the former Wainwright Inn in Great Barrington?
Reilly DeBow: My husband and I have always loved the Berkshires—we’ve been visiting this area for at least 15 years while my parents have been building homes. And we always imagined that someday we would live here. My dad is a contractor, and right now he is building another inn in Ashley Falls. As a part of his work, he is always looking at properties and had been keeping an eye on the Wainwright Inn over the three years it had been on the market. During that time, Currie was working in construction with my dad and commuting from where we lived in Avon, CT, to the Berkshires. Both Currie and I had always worked in hospitality, but mainly in restaurants, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity. And honestly, I think we are both better suited for innkeeping than restaurant careers!
KS: What do you enjoy most about owning an inn? You’re both quite a bit younger than the age group that people usually picture as innkeepers.
RD: Honestly, my husband just radiates hospitality, and our guests absolutely love him. I love the decorating aspect and always having new projects to tackle. The seasonal changes mean that I’m always figuring out new themes and events to brighten the Inn. And it has been better than I could have imagined running this business—people have been so kind!
KS: When I first entered the building to find you, I felt instantly transported to another, more gracious time. And once the solid doors closed behind me, any sounds of Route 7 faded away, and it was so calm and lovely. Tell us a little about the history of both the building itself and the Inn.
RD: This building is 260 years old, so it predates the founding of our country. It was built originally as a private residence, which later became a tavern with guest rooms. It was used as a community gathering place during the Revolutionary War. Later, Thomas Edison stayed here as a guest of one of the tavern owners: Franklin Pope, a pioneer in electrical engineering. Edison was yet to become famous as the inventor of the incandescent light bulb at that point and really appreciated the free lodging!
KS: What was your inspiration for designing the comfortable and stylish common rooms on the first floor?
RD: We’ve heard from some of our guests who had returned many times over the past several years that these rooms were not really used that much, and I feel that there is so much potential. I want to create both a lively and home-like environment for our guests to enjoy, and I also want members of our community to come in and use the space.
KS: What kind of programming are you thinking about to draw in members of the community?
RD: I’m thinking of pop-up dinners, book clubs, poetry readings and any kind of artistic gathering. And offering food and drink to the public may be in our future, but we need to go through all the right steps with the town. We do have a lot of big dreams!
KS: What changes have you made to the guest rooms?
RD: We have redecorated all of them. We updated the beds, so they are more comfortable, and the bedding is now all cotton, which is a real labor of love to maintain. We need to steam out all the wrinkles sheet by sheet. But we get a lot of compliments on the bedding, so I think it is completely worth it. We also added large streaming TVs to each room as well as mini fridges. Previously, there was just one shared fridge per floor.
KS: And you’re generally feeling support from the town members?
RD: Yes, people have been obnoxiously friendly to us in the best possible way. People are noticing and appreciating everything we do to make our mark on the inn, from the new hanging baskets or lights or flying a pride flag. And our business community has been so supportive, even doing social media collaborations with us like Guido’s did.
KS: And you’re also accepting BerkShares as a form of payment. I learned that when you had just taken over the Inn, you made a post about BerkShares that got a lot of views. Tell us about that.
RD: Yes, the post went pretty viral! It happened when we were still in the process of moving in. We were having an estate sale for the items we weren’t going to keep, and someone paid me in BerkShares. I was like, “what is this?” because I hadn’t known about them. Once they explained the program to me, I thought it was so cool and I felt like I wanted to tell everyone about it. I had never heard of a local currency like this, and it was so refreshing to see a program that is so community focused. And people reacted to the post in a big way—there were people all over America saying things like, “I wish we had this in my town.”
Note: The Berkshire Mountain Inn website goes into more detail about the history of the Inn for those who would find it intriguing.
