The History of the Grafton Village Inn

1820 - John Grover's Tavern opened
1832 - Sold to Edward Pepper and renamed Pepper's Tavern. Pepper parcelled off the land and built the Mansion House.
1835 - Purchased by John Arklands who operated it as The Mansion House Hotel and Stage House.
1855 - Purchased by Benjamin Brown who severed off a parcel of land 58' x 58' - just east of the Mansion
House, on which the Haldimand Municipal Building was erected.
1870 - Purchased by William Aird, a local farmer, who ran the Inn for the next 20 years.
1890 - Sold to Ziba Harnden.
1892 - Purchased by Michael Mulhall, who raised his 12 children at the Inn. He severed off the west side of the
property which became the site of the Haldimand Telephone System which was run by his daughter May.
1921 - Sold to William Garfield.
1923 - Sold to George Wallace Chatterton.
1925 - Sold to Maud Cole.
1927 - Sold to James and Agnes Breckenridge.
1936 - Sold to Frank Harrot.
1945 - Sold to Alfred Maloney.
1950 - Sold to Sarah Anne Laury.
1953 - Sold to Omer and Helen Mackles.
1955 - Sold to Joseph and Marion Konch.
1967 - Sold to Edward and Lillian Welfare.
1971 - Sold to Edward and Marg Gould.
1973 - Became Grafton Hotel under new owners Freemont and Genieve Cole.
1988 - Purchased by the present owners, Peter and Camilla Dalglish and extensively renovated and restored.
1996 - Reopened as a dining, meeting facility and banquet facility.

At one time Grafton could boast of no fewer than six inns. Today, only the Grafton Village Inn remains, still steeped in the heritage, traditions and hospitality which make Upper Canada a prime tourist and vacation region. The are has many unique antique shops, historical buildings and churches, and the 158 year old Barnum House Museum, just west of the Inn, houses many fascinating artifacts from Ontario's loyalist past.

Today, the Grafton Village Inn has become the venue of choice for meetings, banquets and weddings. The large, spacious grounds on which the Inn stands, offer an excellent site for wedding and anniversary celebrations under tented canopies and the Inn's Victorian Gazebo.