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Contact The Blue Heron Inn
P.O. Box 588
10412 Main Street
Findley Lake, NY 14736
P: 716.769.7852
F: 716.769.7866

 

  I was a cold 21 year-old from Florida who was seeing snow for the first time. Thanks for rescuing me - I appreciate your kindness and will remember this beautiful place forever!
-Lorissa M.

Biography

 

"Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should"

- Max Ehrmann

In the early 1990’s then twenty-something's Bruce & Tobi Ahlquist quit their Pittsburgh, PA day jobs and moved 3 hours

north to Bruce’s hometown of Warren, PA (Tobi is a native of the Philadelphia, PA suburbs).

The plot: to open a restaurant.
The location: a magnificent 1890 Victorian mansion on a prime corner in downtown Warren.

Purchased from the local YWCA, the building was in need of a lot of TLC, to accommodate a modern restaurant operation it required a major overhaul. As soon as the property was theirs, Bruce & Tobi went to work (abundant accolades to the helping hands of family and friends). Of course it entailed living in the midst of renovation hell but, hey, at 23 years old it was part of

the overall adventure! After months of hands-on demolition & restoration the Jefferson House & Pub opened in 1982.

And baby makes three!

Bruce and Tobi welcomed daughter Hillary to the family on October 26, 1989. Having lived
and worked on-site for close to ten years the family decided to find an off-premise family refuge.
They fell in love with Findley Lake, NY and when Hillary was just two years old they bought
a lake-front cottage; from then on the family spent every weekend at the lake.

With no grand plan to permanently relocate, their sights settled on the private residence that
is now home to the Blue Heron Inn. Envisioning it to be the perfect location for a year-round
bed & breakfast, they purchased the property in 1995 — right away renovations to the barn
began in 1996 and the first enterprising tenants opened retail stores that very fall. At the same
time renovations to the Inn began in earnest and the building was ready for guests in late spring, 1997.In 2005, after obtaining Findley Lake’s first restaurant liquor license, a 36-seat deck
(serving up a stunning lake view!) was added to the front of the Inn and the rest, as they say, is history!

Self-taught Chef Bruce credits his grandmother Edith for his love of cooking. In fact, each holiday season he continues the family practice of baking traditional Swedish recipes to

share with friends & family. Bruce is the brains behind called Spare Parts Art, a line of up-cycled and re-purposed lamps & wall art. He also wears the titles of resident gardener, carpenter and handyman. Tobi is the self-taught computer/retailing diva who calls The Nostalgia Shoppe, the shop at the Blue Heron Inn, her home away from home. Daughter Hillary graduated from Sherman Central School in 2008; while in high school she was a snow board instructor at nearby Peek 'n Peak Resort. She graduated from Duquesne University in 2011 with a degree in Political Science and will graduate from Duquesne School of Law in 2015. Hillary pitches in at the Restaurant whenever she is home on a school break.

 

Bruce, Tobi, daughter Hillary and their staff of professionals await your arrival

with warm and gracious hospitality. Come find out for yourself ...

... make the Blue Heron Inn part of all your seasons!

 

 


       
Blue Heron Inn
Bruce and Tobi Zenker Ahlquist
Owners/Innkeepers

P.O. Box 588, 10412 Main St.,
Findley Lake, NY 14736
P: 716.769.7852
F: 716.769.7866
stay@theblueheroninn.com