For those of us who grew up in the Jericho Syosset area, that were fortunate enough to be taken to the Maine Maid Inn by their parents and on special occasions are witnessing a disturbing event.  The Inn has been closed now for over 14 months.  In 2007 it was purchased by a group that owned restaurants specializing in Indian cuisine.  One day, a few of us old timers walked into the Inn, turned right to go into our favorite bar room on Long Island; over 100 years old, the original plank flooring, fireplace and wood bar with foot rail.  Talk about a complete shock, the doors to the bar were closed and padlocked.  We went to the hostess to ask “What Happened!”, she said the bar wasn’t making any money so they decided to close it.

Fond memories, fantastic friends, fellowship, camaraderie, all wiped out instantly. It was bad enough when the salad nicoise with walnut dressing was taken off the menu, then this. The Inn was a great meeting place for the boys from the Brookville Country Club, the Syosset/Jericho Kiwanis, regulars at the happy hour, which served hot and cold hors d'oeuvres,  fantastic French doors that opened to a patio surrounded by greenery, flowers and most of all history. 

I gathered together a bit of information, some of which came from the research I am doing on the Long Island Indians.  Please read it and those of you who have memories, please share them.  By the way, the Maine Maid Inn building is not on the historical registry.  Could you imagine someone coming in, buying the property, knocking down the Inn and building another office building that we don’t need?  Those of you interested in helping me accomplish preserving this building please contact me at my e-mail, [email protected]. 

Enjoy the history!

            Located at 4 Old Jericho Tpke in Jericho, NY is the site of the Maine Maid Inn.  Prior to this property becoming a residence, inn and restaurant, it was part of the Matinecock land.  The Matinecocks inhabited most of what we now know as Nassau County’s North Shore of Long Island.   A deal was made in 1648, wherein Welsh settler Robert Williams, purchased a large portion of the land, including the future site of the Inn, from the Matinecock Indians.  This newly purchased area became a center of the Quaker religion. 

            In 1789, the Maine Maid Inn building was constructed.  It originally housed the Post Office founded by Post Master William Guthre in 1802.  But the building the Quakers knew as the Maine Maid Inn does not stand at this site; it is actually one of the structures that encompass the Milleridge Inn.  The original Maine Maid Inn was the home of Mary Washburn Willets and used as a Quaker meeting house.  Very few know it as anything other than the Milleridge Inn. 

Approximately ten years after the post office was founded, Valentine and Abigail Hicks moved into the future site of the Maine Maid Inn with their children.  They were extremely important members of the Quaker community.  Valentine Hicks was President of the Long Island Railroad and the town of Hicksville was named after him.  As earlier stated, they were prominent in the Quaker society. It is well noted that the Quakers were some of the first to release their slaves starting in the late 1700’s.  It seems that the Hicks family used the Inn to assist slaves that had escaped.  It was known as a major stop for the Underground Railroad and it is said that the portal still exists today. 

            There is much discrepancy between when the Maine Maid Inn became an inn and restaurant.  While everyone agrees Valentine Hicks remained in residence until he passed away in 1850, there are some who say it became the Inn shortly after his death.  Others attest that the home remained a private residence until 1930, becoming a restaurant in the 1940’s, while others claim it did not become the Maine Maid Inn until 1950, one hundred years after Valentine’s death.  Regardless of when it opened, the Maine Maid Inn was a piece of history to be experienced and enjoyed.  You could walk the floors that Abigail Hicks may have rushed down while tending the slaves, view the original paintings that hung on the Hicks’ family walls, touch and be touched by the times gone by.  

            Those days are over.  When you drive by it now, the most noticeable thing is the for sale sign.  You talk to most people in the Jericho and Syosset area and you find out how big of a staple the Maine Maid Inn was in there lives; just about everyone has a story, a memory.  I look forward to hearing yours.

"Copyright 2010 by James Balletta"

Posted via email from lex realty's posterous