Mary's Story
Mary is the original owner and founder of The Little Sodus Inn, which over the last 50 years has become a community staple. She sadly passed away in 2018, but has left an irreplacable imprint on the hearts of those who knew her and a legacy unlike any other for generations to come.
"I was born in Greenwich Village in NYC, one stop off from Hoboken NJ. You could hear the rumble of the trains every 10 minutes. Buses and trucks constantly went through the street where I grew up. It was one of the busiest places in the city. My mother was a one room school house teacher who came to NYC over summer vacation to stay with her sister who was a social worker in the women's jail in Greenwich Village. My mother worked part-time in a bakery and met my father who delivered milk there. He worked for Sweffield Farms. My father also rented a club in Greenwich Village where they drank, smoked, and danced, which was everything my mother was not brought up with. My mother was raised in the country, as her family had a farm in Parish NY, just North of Oswego. My mother brought me up to her sister and brother-in-law's farm and I loved it! I rode in the hay wagon, watched my uncle milk the cows, feed the chickens, and so much more. It was so different than what I was used to seeing in the city.
When I grew up, I worked in a bank in downtown Manhattan where I met my husband. He went to college on the GI Bill. We got married and also lived in Greenwich Village. Later on, I ran a nursery school business in a church from September until June in Greenwich Village. I brought my 3 children up to the farm in the summer when they were young. When they got older we found Fair Haven. I rented there for the summer from the time they were children, until they became lifeguards at the State Park.
My sister-in-law and I found Little Sodus Inn (LSI) over the summer and became friends with the owner. He passed away over the winter due to cancer. When I came back to Fair Haven in '72 and '73 the family asked me if I wanted to buy LSI. At first I said no, as I knew nothing about bars. Then my nineteen and a half year old daughter convinced me to lease it for a year. Here I am now, forty-three and a half years later! I've tried to make it a family bar where my saying is "Welcome to my living room!" He who enters here is a stranger but once!"