Trout Lake’s historic Windsor Hotel, featured last week in the Star among a list of hotels in the region claiming to be B.C.’s oldest, will reopen by summer.
After being closed for over a year, new owner Brian Prochnavy says he will welcome guests by June 16. He bought the 113-year-old building on January 21 in memory of Wendy, his wife of 28 years, who passed away from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
“My wife was a strong and courageous woman who had similar characteristics to Alice Jowett, owner of the hotel during the early 1900s,” Prochnavy says.
He says he’s fascinated with the history and beauty of the area.
“For me it is hard to imagine that heaven could be more beautiful than Trout Lake. This was Wendy’s favourite place to be and I want to welcome other travellers to enjoy a little piece of paradise while they stay at the Windsor Hotel.”
Prochnavy is searching for a dedicated couple to run the hotel.
Although built in 1897, it is sometimes erroneously claimed to have been established in 1892, and to be B.C.’s oldest hotel.
Alice Jowett, its longtime owner/operator lived to be 101, and it is thanks in part to her care and maintenance that the hotel is still standing, one of the few links to the Lardeau’s mining rush days.
— With files from Linda Wall, Arrow Lakes News