“I have laid aside business, and gone a-fishing,” wrote Izaak Walton in The Compleat Angler; Walton would probably haveloved the Beaverkill, America’s most famous fly-fishing stream. Al-though the Beaverkill Valley Inn, built in 1893 as a boardinghouse at Lew Beach, never played host to Walton, Jimmy Carter, Robert Redford, Sigourney Weaver, Gary Trudeau, Jane Pauley, and assorted Kennedys have all been guests here. Owned and developed by Laurance Rockefeller and managed by able innkeeper Christina Jurgens, the inn caters to those who cherish privacy. Its surrounding forests and nearby fields, preserved as “forever wild,” are protected from development.
This is not to say that accommodations are rustic at this wilderness retreat. The large house, which is on the National Register ofHistoric Places, sits proudly on an expanse of lawn that’s met by the Catskill Mountains. The grounds, with an herb garden and pond, are immaculate, and a stretch of the Beaverkill River runs right through the property. Even the croquet court is outlined by small patches of flowers. White-painted rocking chairs line the wide porch, a welcoming fire warms the living room on frosty days, and the dining-room windows offer a panoramic view of the grounds. The card and billiard rooms, with their green-shade lamps, have a clubby, masculine atmosphere. Instead of card playing, however, you may see someone giving a lesson on how to tie a fly for tomorrow’s catch. Fishing is definitelythe draw here (the inn has a pack-age arrangement with the Wuiff Fly Fishing School nearby).
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