The legendary Tannersville Inn re-opened its doors to the public one last time, for a live auction.
Over 540 items were on display and sold to the highest bidder on Saturday, Oct. 22. Everything from beer advertising signs, to tables, barstools, booths, kitchen appliances, coal stoves, furniture and even jewelry were up for grabs.
Fast-talking auctioneer, Robert Teel of Teel Auctions started chanting in front of hundreds of people at 10 a.m. until the last items sold around 5 p.m. The parking lot was full as the auction drew in hundreds of people throughout the entire day.
“This is difficult for me sometimes, doing this sale, especially at the Tannersville Inn, where Steve and Bobby were great friends of mine,” said Teel. “So it’s a little hard on me emotionally, but yet necessity.”
Not just Amazon:Warehouse industry growing in the Poconos, and jobs are plenty
Teel reminisced about “the spot where Steve stood in the bar by the gate and everyone called him the captain and he ran this place and so did Bobby. They were a great brothers team, where Steve had worked it on the weekends, and Bobby had it during the week. It’s just wonderful memories here.”
“My job is to get as much as humanly possible via this live and online auction,” said Teel. “Although it’s not just the numbers, this is about people and memories. Some say there are ghosts upstairs. Whether you believe it or not, it’s a great time of year to be here.”
Story continues after gallery.
According to Teel, there were a lot of inquiries about old menus and other memorabilia. Some of the more high stake items were a pair of butchers’ blocks that sold for $700 and $575 each. An antique Tannersville hotel photograph in frame sold for $800. A Hollywood California spotlight sold for $450. A three light street light sold for $475. Three Tannersville Inn wooden signs sold for over $325 each. Multiple sets of bar stools sold for over $250 for each set of 4. Multiple lots of beer taps and beer signs were also popular items, fetching hundreds of dollars in bids.
The highest bid item of the day was a lot of four marked 14-karat gold pearl rings that sold for $8,250 at the end of the day.
Being a local business rooted in the Poconos since 1984, Teel was reminded of the legendary Mount Airy auction he did in 2005. He said memories is what he is selling along with the value.
“A lot of my friends that I know from the Poconos are all here already to see what’s going on,” said Teel. “And they were all regulars.”
Regulars were a “wonderful thing” about the Tannersville Inn, Teel continued.
“If you were a regular you came here, and if you were a newbie you became a regular and that’s the wonderful thing about the Tannersville Inn when Steve and Bobby ran it.” Teel said. “All were welcome and everybody that walked through the door was welcomed in this home. This was the guy Steve was.”
From the archives:Happy Hour of the Month April, 2019 at the Tannersville Inn
‘Cause of death’ at the TVI
A former Philadelphia cop, Steven Jakubowitz Jr., bought the place in 1971 and passed away in 2007. His wife and family kept the inn up and running until the COVID-19 shutdown in Spring of 2020.
The Jakubowitz family spent decades running the Tannersville Inn, which traces its origins to a log cabin in 1831. It was a stagecoach stop in the 1830s, and in 1847, the building and 98 acres became Manasseh Miller’s Hotel.
The owners of the inn blamed the restrictions that were put in place beginning in March to curb the spread of the virus as the cause of death for the Tannersville Inn. The landmark closed one day after industry officials warned legislators that state-ordered limitations on how many customers can dine inside at one time was strangling the life out of restaurants in July of 2020.
The Tannersville Inn has been closed since 2020— a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pocono Township Supervisor Taylor Muñoz confirmed sketch plans were submitted to Pocono Township officials in May 2022 by a developer, to demolish the inn and replace it with a Wawa service station and convenience store.
“But it is not set in stone yet, it was just s sketch plan with a ways to go.” He said.
link
