Boutique hotels and charming inns can be incredibly hard to find if they are not your destination. Sometimes, your journey only takes you past chain hotels or decrepit motels, that really aren't an option. Fortunately, just when I was about to admit defeat on my chosen route, I found the Old Library Inn.

The 1850 House Inn, an unassuming Italianate on Rosendale’s Main Street, has been welcoming guests for over 150 years. Since, you know, 1850. Though it has changed names more than a few times over the past century, the old brick building remains very much the same. The space has been updated, but respected. It is not stuck in the past, filled entirely with antiques and lace, nor has it been given an incongruent modern makeover. Overlooking the Rondout Creek, it is a relaxing retreat. The hotel dates back to a time when the small Hudson River Valley town of Rosendale was booming. Although long home to the Lenape, and settled…