Popular Orleans County restaurant was once a culinary landmark. Today it's a church

The Apple Grove Inn was a landmark restaurant-lounge in Orleans County that grew from a hot dog stand into one of the largest restaurants in the state.

The place had several rooms, including the Johnny Appleseed Lounge, and at its peak could seat at least 700 customers. People came from all over to celebrate everything from weddings and proms to anniversaries and retirement parties and more for decades.

The décor included trees — real or not — within the dining rooms. In later years, owners added a popular mule-drawn packet boat ride along the Erie Canal.

An enormous fire just before Christmas one year destroyed much of the Apple Grove Inn but the place was soon rebuilt.

The roots of the business date to 1927, when a hot dog stand (with gas pumps) called the Parkway Inn opened amidst apple trees and farmland near Medina. Walter Hilger started with that building in 1946, dubbed it the Apple Grove Inn and continuously added on.

The rooms were all named after apples, including the Pippin Room, the Crabapple Room, the Baldwin Room and the Russet Room. The original hot dog stand became part of the structure as the Greening Room. A new banquet hall, which became the Johnny Appleseed Lounge, was completed by the early ‘60s.

A local newspaper from that era said the Apple Grove Inn had “skyrocketed to fame throughout this section of the state.” Stories at various times mentioned a circular fieldstone fireplace, “picturesque” chalet windows, a fish tank, ice sculptures and a “gurgling” waterfall.

As the Medina Daily Journal-Register reported in 1962, “In the main dining room, an apple tree, which you could easily mistake for the real thing, spreads its branches and never-fading green foliage.”

Another account referred to the “genuine apple tree growing out of the slate floor, left there when the building began.” One of the many ads for the place (that were actually like mini-stories) mentioned “some real apple trees were enclosed within the building…although petrified, these trees still bloom and bear fruit seasonally.”

The Apple Grove was known for its hearty meals and Wagon Wheel Buffet and had its own bakery. The catchphrase was “Mighty Fine Food.” The business celebrated Johnny Appleseed’s birthday in the fall with Apple Sunday events, Harvest Dinner platters and everything-apple offerings like pie, kuchen, fritters, cider, juice,

The sprawling restaurant was constantly being renovated. “You could never start building something like this today,” Hilger said in a 1979 Democrat and Chronicle article. “The costs alone would kill you, and then there’s the competition of the franchises.”

A 1984 fire shut the Apple Grove Inn down for about a month. A news story referred to the place as “a rare environ — a wood-paneled den where patrons could eat their fill of country cooking with style.” The story noted the vast size but cozy atmosphere. “The late-night crowd could knock out a ditty on the baby grand piano in the corner, or nurse a drink in front of the fireplace.”

Hilger sold the business a year later to longtime employees Jeff Wagner and Otto “Bill” Berg. They started packet-boat rides aboard the Miss Apple Grove in 1988.

The Erie Canal cruises became quite popular as a nod to bygone days. Two mules on a towpath pulled the boat, escorted by two men in 19th century attire. But the overall business was struggling, and Wagner and Berg filed for Chapter 11 protection from their creditors in 1990.

And then, just before Christmas in 1991 came the really big fire at the Apple Grove Inn. It was spotted overnight by a state trooper and took more than 100 firefighters from three counties several hours to get under control. The Russet Room remained standing, but much of the rest was destroyed.

Fire officials declared the blaze an arson. Workers rebuilt the place and the Apple Grove partially reopened in late 1992. A grand opening for the “new” Apple Grove Inn — with a new and smaller look — wasn’t held until late 1994.

In a Democrat and Chronicle story that year, Kathy Lindsley described a bright dining room dominated by a staircase leading to a double balcony. “Lots of windows and a cool, quiet color scheme do the trick; it isn’t dark anymore,” Lindsley wrote. Seating capacity was down to 350 or so and things were more compact. “Before the fire, the restaurant was a rambling structure,” Lindsley wrote.

The boat rides continued, and Wagner and Berg debuted dinner theater at the Apple Grove Inn. Soon after came an annual jazz festival at the Apple Grove which became the GO (Genesee-Orleans) Jazz Fest.

By 2003, it was all over. The landmark restaurant was put up for auction and a local church moved in 10 years later. Memorabilia from the Apple Grove Inn can still be found online.

Alan Morrell is a former Democrat and Chronicle reporter and a Rochester-area freelance writer.

This story was originally published in December 2018 as part of the Whatever Happened To series.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Popular Orleans County restaurant was once a culinary landmark. Today it's a church