It’s the early 1840s. Bayfield is still a mostly forested area, though there are farmers who have cleared some land for their crops, with log cabins built for homes and barns. The land is being settled by people emigrating from Britain, Holland, and Germany among other places in Europe and Canada. The village is growing into a small-town way of life.
A man named Robert Reid constructs a one-story building as a general store. It operates for about fifteen years and in 1856, as the town populates and visitors abound, a second story is added. The doors open and The Albion Hotel is born.
The Albion has been a Bayfield hostelry for over 145 years.
In the late 1890s Bayfield is attracting large numbers of visitors from elsewhere in Canada as well as from Michigan and other parts of the States across Lake Huron. Being one of the older establishments with a reputation for both fun and relaxation, The Albion Hotel is a favourite stop for food, drink, and above all, rest.
In 1902 both levels of the front porch are complete, and the two-tiered veranda becomes the classic mark of The Albion Hotel.
Over the years ownership changes hands several times, but The Albion is always renting its rooms for weary travelers and excited vacationers. In the 1980’s Kim Muszynski buys the hotel, and spends a great deal of effort to bring all the modern amenities expected of a hotel while at the same time restoring the original architecture and feel of late nineteenth-century Bayfield.
After doing some basic remodeling of the rooms and kitchen, Mr. Muszynski gains a heritage grant from the Ministry of Culture and Communications to restore the original veranda that had been built in 1902.
The hotel is now adorned with antiques of all sorts, from the bedroom furniture to the country-style dining room decor. The original cherry wood bar is still in use. The only reasons to think that you are vacationing in the twenty-first century are the private bathrooms in each room, the air conditioning, and the dress of the patrons. But even the dress of the patrons is sometimes country-classic.
With the town heritage and atmosphere, our hotel’s age and feel, and the gentility of the locals, you’ll find nothing but a true Taste of Country at The Albion Hotel.