Vintage Patchogue: Clifton House In 1909

Clifton House was a hotel built on the shore of Patchogue that was in business in the 1800s into at least the 20th century, according to reports.

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According to the 1997 book "Images of America Patchogue" by Hans Henke, Clifton House was located at the foot of Bay Avenue, and its first part was built in 1882 by Mr. Jenkins. A larger addition was built in 1892 and the hotel had to double by 1896. The hotel had its own vegetable garden on a 13-acre property, which grew food for residents to eat in the 125-foot long dining hall. Guests could enjoy boardwalks, lawn tennis, croquet, archery, bowling, a live orchestra on weekends and the Great South Bay.

Longwood School District's history website cites an 1883 article in the Long Island Advance that describes Clifton House as having over 75 rooms. The article also cites Patchogue as formally being a resort town with 1,000 tourists coming that year, hotels that were booked solid and cottages available for rent at the rate of $50 to $150 a month.

In a phone call Monday, Henke told Patch that the hotel was torn down, likely in the early 1940s. All of the items inside of it were auctioned off in 1938, he said. According to Google Maps satelite images, the end of Bay Avenue appears to now consist of homes that have small beach-like areas behind them.

A 1909 image of Clifton House on a postcard is currently on sale on eBay at the price of $7.50 with $1.50 in shipping.

Do you have memories of this or other former Patchogue area hotels? Post them in the comments.