Sixty Years Of Memories At The Stony Hill Inn

By Nancy K. Crevier

The topic is usually people when chatting with John and Gene Rubino, owners of The Stony Hill Inn on Route 6 in Bethel.

From their hardworking parents to the young woman whose lost engagement pearl John rescued from the garbage, cupped in the palm of a lettuce leaf; from their children to their wives to the old chef, Antonio, who tossed the first salads and fired up the first steaks in 1945 when the Rubino family took over Hugyo’s Acres and began to build up their stellar reputation, the people are part of the memories. Through commercialization of the area, recessions, renovations, and innovations in business, it is the people that these two entrepreneurs recall from their 60 years of business.

“Without good employees and families, it would have been difficult to get to where we are today,” says Gene Rubino, as he and his brother recall the hard work and finesse of leadership that has made their 250-seat banquet facility and restaurant the popular establishment it is, catering to families, corporations, and businesses from throughout the region.

“Some of the employees we’ve had for up to 40 years,” adds John, “and we keep in contact with them still. We’re thankful for our help.”

The customers who frequent the Stony Hill Inn are highly valued by the Rubinos. Families mark birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, engagements, and weddings at the Stony Hill Inn, many of them sharing one notable event after another as the years roll past. As ambassadors of the inn, John and Gene Rubino know the stories behind the lives of many that pass through.

“When I hear about a divorce, especially someone who has had a wedding here, it breaks my heart,” Gene says. The people are as important to the Rubinos as the Stony Hill Inn is to those people.

If not for a chance encounter, though, the small property once known as Hugyo’s Acres might not have become The Stony Hill Inn as we know it today.

As John recounts, he was 17 years old in 1945 and accompanying his father, Anthony, owner of The Castle Grille in Stamford, to look at another property in Brewster, N.Y. His father spotted his cousin’s car in a parking lot, pulled into the bar to commiserate and in the course of the evening, met a local realtor who told him not to buy the Brewster property until he had seen a little place in Bethel that was for sale.

The following week, check in hand for the New York inn, John and his father took a swing past the Bethel location on their way to Brewster. To make a long story short, “It was a beautiful, brand new building, built in 1939,” says John. “Very up-to-date for the times. I told my dad, ‘Don’t pass this up.’ That very day, he took the check for the New York property and put it down on this place [The Stony Hill Inn].”

Gene was serving in the armed forces at the time of the transaction, and their father was still in the process of selling his business in Stamford. That left 17-year-old John to run the new business until the rest of the family could join him. “There was nothing around us then, just cows when you looked across the road. I was one month by myself here, just me and Antonio, our old cook from the Grille. I don’t think parents would let a child go these days.”

The brothers were not strangers to hard work, though, having worked for their father since they were preteens. “It was our job to clean the restaurant in Stamford each morning before we went to school,” Gene remembers. “I don’t think kids would be willing today to work as hard. My dad got a lot of work out of us, but he was a very positive thinker,” he adds.

Says John, “We respected my father’s wishes.”

Anthony Rubino and his wife, Christina, had a vision for the small inn, and quickly set to work to turn it into reality.

John says, “In 1946, my father and I installed the pond. Before that, it was swampland. All of the maples out there, he and I planted them.” He holds up an index finger to illustrate, saying, “They were just this big. And look at them now.”

The maples stand nearly 100 feet tall, surrounding the serene pond. A swan glides across the surface, as swans have done for the past 60 years. The maples add an air of stately elegance and are a testimony to the Rubinos’ careful planning, placed tastefully across the lawn. At the pond’s edge, their limbs arch over the gazebo. Added in 1993, the gazebo is a popular wedding photo spot for the hundreds of brides and grooms who have celebrated their nuptials at the Stony Hill Inn.

The brothers’ sisters Chris, Rosemarie, and Fran worked alongside their mother in the kitchen in the early years, turning out Italian American fare for the local population, as did John, when he was not reworking the landscape with his father. “If a bunch of guys came in late at night when I was in bed and wanted steaks, my father would yell upstairs to where I was sleeping to get down and cook them some. I’d come down from my bed and cook those steaks. You couldn’t turn away business back then.”

Turning away business is not something the Rubinos ever do. They build to accommodate. The Stony Hill Inn has undergone several expansions in its 60 years under their direction. Following Gene’s return from World War II operations, the family completed construction of the first motel in Connecticut in 1947. “It had 12 rooms for 24 people,” Gene says. “And cost $7 a night,” John adds.

In 1951, the kitchen underwent a renovation, then in 1958, the Rubinos added four rooms to their motel, followed by ten more in 1960. In 1965, it was the dining room’s turn to expand for the first time, followed by a larger, west wing addition in 1975 and the front lobby addition.

“When we completed construction in 1965, the Chestnut Room and the dining room, we were sitting on the floor waiting for the furniture to arrive,” Gene remembers. “John turned to me and said ‘This is a beautiful room.’ I still remember that.”

He goes on to say, “In 1981, we added the big dining room on the east side of the building, then in 1986, we built the Berkshire Inn up Route 6, just before the Target.”

Through it all, the original building, around whose three small rooms the expansions took place, continues to peek over the new roofline, its windows like eyes upon the changing world around it and the people who come and go.

The 1981 addition was not the end of the Stony Hill Inn expansions, though. In 1993, a driving range and pro shop opened behind the main building, operated by John’s daughter, Lisa, and her husband Scott Ward.

“There was an apple orchard where the driving range is,” remembers John. “My father planted it and would sell the fruit each fall. We’ve had it all.”

Not just fruit trees and swans, but sheep, ponies, horses, and chickens have all been a part of the history of this landmark inn as the area progressed from farmland to commercial businesses lining both sides of the road from Danbury to Newtown.

The brothers fondly recall the pastoral scene that once spread about them and memories that include the day the Danbury Fair reopened after World War II and people lined up all the way down Route 6 from the fairgrounds through Main Street in Newtown. (“We ran out of food,” John chuckles. “Everyone did.”) Yet they do not regret the growth of the area.

Says John, “Normal growth affects everything that happens.” His brother agrees, noting, “The commercialization in the mid-60s brought more people. It helped the hotel industry. We support the growth.”

Both the Stony Hill Inn and the Berkshire Inn are under the auspices of the Best Western chain of motels and hotels. “In order to get national advertising,” Gene explains, “you have to go with a national brand. And because Best Western is a cooperative, we have a say in the way the business operates.” This allows Stony Hill Inn to remain somewhat autonomous, with a personal touch to its business.

Anthony and Christina Rubino were a constant inspiration to their family, say John and Gene. They demanded long hours and excellence from each of the children, but worked just as hard as the younger generation. As did their parents until their deaths, Gene and John Rubino remain actively involved in the inn. Both brothers are quick to add, “Without good wives, we couldn’t have done it. They took care of the kids, and put up with us working all hours, all days of the week when the kids were little.”

The day-to-day operations of The Stony Hill Inn now fall upon John’s sons, Tony and John. And it is Gene’s daughters, Beth Rubino and Margie Damota, who run the Berkshire Inn.

“It’s nice to let the younger people move in. Let them have a shot at it,” says Gene.

It always comes back to people.

“Our business is based on local traffic,” Gene says. “We do a huge amount of business with Newtown people, and with people from the other towns around us.”

John sums up the 60 years of operating the time-honored inn by saying, “To be a success in this business, you have to put your heart and soul into it.”

As the Rubino family members gather this October to celebrate the inn’s 60th anniversary, they can proudly say that the people of The Stony Hill Inn will continue to ensure that it remains the heart and soul of the many events that mark the lives of area customers.