The world has changed with the advent of Covid-19 and the North Hero House is facing a great deal of uncertainty about how we will operate during the coming months.

Currently we are not permitted to make new overnight reservations until June 15, but we are able to honor existing reservations between now and then.

Once we begin welcoming

guests, our principal goal will be to make sure that both our guests and employees are in a safe environment.

We need to make sure that our check-in and check-out service as well as our restaurant service involves minimal contact and adequate social distancing. In addition our housekeeping service must make sure all the rooms and common areas are meticulously sanitized and that housekeepers have adequate protective gear to keep them safe. These are all challenges which we feel we can meet.

Currently, our take out restaurant service provides a zero contact process. Orders and payment are taken over the phone and the meals are placed on an outdoor bench for pickup. In addition we are about to offer an online ordering service where guests can select their menu choices on their laptop or smart phone and pay for their order online also. We envision this service being continued throughout the summer months.

We expect that we will need to reduce the amount of seating we provide for diners so that adequate distance between tables can be assured. We are fortunate that we have a number of dining spaces that allow us to provide seating for a good number of diners.

It is possible that we will switch to a take out service on the pier. Guests can call in their order in advance and have it waiting for them when they arrive. They will then be able to take their food to any open table to enjoy a Lobster Roll and the fabulous view. In this way we will be able to control the flow of diners and make sure that we provide seating with adequate social distancing.

As we work on adapting to a new operating environment we are busy preparing the inn for the summer season. We are hoping to have our docks in by May 15. Our famous and spectacular flower boxes have been planted and are in the greenhouse waiting for zero risk of frost before being placed outside. We have started hundreds of vegetable plants by seed that are also awaiting warmer weather to be placed in the North Hero House Garden. All the rooms are undergoing spring cleaning. Finally, we are hiring staff to make sure we are ready to accommodate our wonderful patrons when the time comes.

We greatly appreciate your interest in the North Hero House and we hope you are staying healthy and are not experiencing undo hardship as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. We look forward to seeing you in 2020.

As you might surmise from our logo, fishing has always been an important activity at the North Hero House. I hope you enjoy this little fishing story.

Walt Blasberg.

When you enter the bar at the North Hero House one of the first things you will notice are the mounted fresh water game fish which grace several of the bar walls. They include beautiful specimens of small mouth bass, Northern pike and walleye. They are there because fishing and the North Hero House have a strong historical relationship.

Lake Champlain is reputed to be one of the best fisheries in North America. For years anglers have made Lake Champlain and the Champlain Islands the destination for their summer vacation. Dr. Roger Sorg, one of the previous owners of the North Hero House, came to North Hero with his parents in the 1940’s. Much of his time was spent fishing. After he purchased the North Hero House in 1969, he actively promoted the sport amongst the Inn guests by giving awards for the fish caught. Some of these fish were mounted with plaques noting the size of the fish along with the date caught. A few of the fish from the Sorg era are still displayed in the bar.

In response to my most recent NHH story, a former guest wrote to me with fond memories of his stay in 1975. He wrote “So while working from home I was cleaning out my home office, and I got nostalgic. I found my award from the North Hero House where I caught the biggest fish of my life. It brings back incredibly fond memories of that summer when I was lucky enough to get to stay at NHH. Oh, what fun we had!” He sent a picture of the award engraved on a brass plaque and one of the huge mounted Northern Pike.

I myself started coming to Lake Champlain for our summer vacations starting in 1950, when I was only 1½ years old. We would make the 12-hour trek from New Jersey to Vermont with the four members of my family, my grandfather and our big English sheepdog. We fished almost every day in a small wooden boat powered by my uncle’s 7.5 horsepower Martin outboard engine. Since we had a rule of only keeping the fish we would eat, we had fish for breakfast and dinner almost every day. For breakfast my Mom would cook perch “hog dressed” (with the heads removed, skinned and with the meat left on the bone) dipped in corn meal and fried in butter. She even cooked eel this way for breakfast. For dinner Mom would bake smallmouth bass. She wrapped the whole bass in in foil, added salt, pepper, butter and tomatoes and baked it until it fell off the bone. Sometimes she would cook Northern pike for dinner. Since it was deemed too bony to eat whole, she would cut it into boneless chunks of fish and use them as ingredients for the most wonderful fish stew ever. 

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