A Rich Heritage

Recognized as one of Quogue’s first true hotels, the Hallock House, at 47 Quogue Street, began as a modest farmhouse built in 1824 by the Hallock family. The Hallocks took in a few boarders who likely arrived by stagecoach. As it is to this day, the “coach” stop was across the street, in front of the Jessup Homestead (now known locally as “The Weathervane” and also recently restored). The Hallock House’s guest register dates back to 1828 and it was then, as it is now, a thriving center of the community.

In the 1840s, at the height of his legendary career, Daniel Webster made annual fall shooting trips to Quogue and Westhampton, staying regularly at the Hallock House, then run by Orlando Hallock. The inn thrived during the Boarding House Era (1870 – 1940), when Quogue was one of the first of the developing summer resort communities along Long Island’s beautiful south shore and boarding houses proliferated as the primary source of local public hospitality.

In 1871 the building was renovated and enlarged by John Dayton Hallock to accommodate 45 guests. He then built a private cottage for his family in 1889, and in 1893, with the growing success of his business, constructed another cottage to rent. These additional cottages were built to the rear of the Hallock House, whose property then ran down to the canal (now the Intercoastal Waterway) on both sides of Quogo Neck Lane.

Admiral Thayer Mahan and his family were regular summer guests at the Hallock House in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Admiral Mahan, a naval geo-strategist and historian, has been called “the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century.” He is remembered, among other things, for coining the phrase “the Middle East.”

More recently, as the Inn at Quogue, the Hallock House served as a local restaurant as well as the only surviving hotel in Quogue. In 2012, a group of local residents purchased the Hallock House and embarked on an extensive restoration that has returned the building to its appearance of a century ago, including reinstatement of its elegant porch and slate roof. It is now a private membership dining club as well as a hotel featuring 14 restored and reimagined rooms and suites.