Hooray for The National

THE NATIONAL HOTEL – was built in 1850 by Robert L. “Uncle Bob” Williams. He didn't like selling liquor, so he didn't keep the hotel for long. Williams was an auctioneer and manufacturer of grain cradles and fanning mills. These were wooden cabinets with a fan inside that would blow the chaff from the wheat, and Williams was known as “the Windmill Man,” at least that's what his obituary said.

It went through many owners before 1876, when William C. Apgar bought the place. In 1890 he reported that during May the hotel had accommodated “considerable more than 100 persons.” A kitchen addition was built in 1901. Apgar sold the hotel to William C. Quick of Whitehouse in 1911, who immediately extended the barroom 10 feet and installed a new bar and back bar. In 1914 Quick sold the National to Laura and Herbert Heisel Sr.

The accompanying photo was probably taken during Heisel's ownership. The 48-star flags say it was after 1912, but Quick had his name across the facade during his ownership, so that brings us to Heisel's reign.

He still owned the hotel in 1933, but M. Weaver owned it in 1937. Raymond J. “Ray” Seip Sr. and his wife Loreeta acquired the National in 1940, and their son Raymond “Honey” Seip Jr. and his wife, Ginny, took over when the time came.

Paleveda remembered that Honey “always wore a smile on his slender face. Not a broad beaming one, but a more quizzical amused, small smile as if he had good-naturedly decided to accept life as it came and with a sense of humor. He always laughed easily.”

In 1971 he and his brother, J. Dale Seip, sold it to John Tetteris and his brothers-in-law John and George Tsantrizas, known in town as “the Greeks.” They sold it to Claiborne Cary and husband Chuck Northrop in 1975. (See Claiborne Cary.)

When I arrived in Frenchtown in June of 1977, I was still living with my dad in Lawrenceville, so I arranged to stay at the hotel for a few nights per week. Northrop said the regular room rate was $12 per night, but I could have a nice room for $8. How about a not-so-nice room? We agreed upon $6 a night. It was furnished in new white wicker and seemed just fine. He gave me a key to the front door so I could come and go at will.

The service was matched to the price, I guess, because sometimes I had to hunt for a towel or swipe a sheet off a bed in another room. The bathroom was down the hall, and early on I locked myself out of my second-story room. I tried to get in from the upper porch, but the screens were locked. When Northrop showed up, in a very business-like manner, he kicked in the door. Of course, he should've had a spare key, but I felt bad about my own incompetence and paid him $10 to inadequately cover my night's lodgings and his wrecked door.

This arrangement continued into November with the place getting colder and colder. They were not going to heat it up just for me. Happily I got a chance to house-sit on Twelfth Street, which eventually resulted in home ownership.

The Greeks repossessed or bought back the National in 1978. They resumed their operation of the place, before selling it to Sam Hasner and Chris Hansen in 1981. In 1982 Hansen married a customer, Nancy Blackburn, who was former manager of the Kingwood Inn (now Razberry's). They bought out Hasner right away.

Under Hansen's direction, artistic touches were added to the Rathskeller. The décor includes two stained-glass pictures by Val Sigstedt of Point Pleasant, Pa. One shows the Milford Train Wreck of 1877 and the other shows a rat crawling out of a beer mug, with the Devil's Tea Table rock formation in the background. Hansen also hired his 22-year-old bartender Mel Allen to paint a mural, which he finished in 1982. I think it was based on the photo above, but with many contemporary faces in the crowd, including those of Hansen and Blackburn.

In 2007 the National, the architectural centerpiece of the town, was foreclosed upon and some of the windows were boarded up. This happened around the same time the A&P closed, and it seemed like the town was dying.

But in 2009, Preeth “Pete” and Marie D'Costa, who have an equestrian farm in Kingwood Township, bought the hotel and reopened it later that year. Soon they also redecorated and enhanced 10 upstairs rooms, reviving the place as a hostelry. Marie works in New York City doing marketing for nonprofits. Hooray for the D'Costas. I'm so glad they stepped in.

In 2015 the D'Costas acquired the Landslide Saloon in Bethlehem Township and renamed it American Spirits Roadhouse.

Don't worry, Colleen and Andrew; we'll get to the Frenchtown Inn next!

From "Rick's Frenchtown Encyclopedia."