Wow, how have the mighty fallen. My husband and I used to love this old historic Lodge in the late 80s and early 90s when we visited, initially while on our honeymoon. It had a *beautiful* old room on the ground level, originally a ballroom; came replete with a knitting circle of ladies doing their knitting, in one visit. You could move your chairs around as you wished, play board games, and simply enjoy the smell of carefully waxed vintage floors. The rooms were vintage too and utterly charming, full of the character only truly historic properties have. The whole place had an aura of a forgotten time, and when visiting, we felt completely at home, ensconsed in the atmosphere of a by-gone age. Once we stayed in one of their quaint cottages on the lakeshore: honestly, you couldn't have invented this place, it was so perfect.
Our experience this year: what a shocker. The whole place has been RENOVATED within an inch of its life, in what should have been called a 'gut renovation'. Almost nothing remains of its original character; the ground level destroyed in a parcelling-out that seems intent only on enhancing revenue; balconies and fake gazebos added where they ought not to be; all of the original clapboarding removed and replaced; and all of the original windows removed, in favor of Pella no doubt-- talk about destroying the soul of a building!! Every inch has been altered, and NOT for the better. Can I get another witness to this? Does anyone remember Liberty Lodge before it was ruined??
The service was perfunctory, the breakfast risible in its meagre offerings. I've learned that the owner, not content with taking a beautiful historic property and reducing it to a footnote in Door County history, has sold all of the property across the Hwy to condo developers. So much for those lovely old cottages!
There's not justice in the world, esp. when vulgarians get a hold of these beautiful old places. My husband and I left early, sick to our stomach. It's really a tragedy, what this owner has done to this historic Inn. The sign ought to read: Historic Once, but No More.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC