The breakfast room at the Adams Basin Inn is Halya Sobkiw's favorite, she says, because it is bright and cheerful and completely different than how it once looked. Photograph by Walter Horylev.

A dream comes true
along the Erie Canal

What's it like to live your dream? Halya Sobkiw knows. She's doing just that.

Sobkiw is the new owner and innkeeper of Adams Basin Inn Bed and Breakfast (formerly The Canalside Inn) in the heart of Adams Basin, along the historic Erie Canal. The ownership is the result of pursuing her dream to own a bed and breakfast.

Identifying the dream
and your passion
From the time she was seven years old, living in a two story flat in Detroit, Michigan with her mother's side of the family, Halya knew she liked to improve the look of her environment. "Much to my aunt's dismay, at my suggestion, my sister, my cousin and I were using kitchen spoons to dig up the bare spots in the back yard to prepare beds, to plant things making it look nice," Halya says. Not typical child's play, but all part of identifying what it is you love to do, and what your instincts are, important Sobkiw says, to loving your work. "I met a woman on a trans Atlantic cruise to Spain, only by chance because we were both early risers. She told me to find my passion, what I love to do, and pursue that. I never thought about it that way, but I thought about what she said to me quite a bit," she says.

Sobkiw credits her mother, Volodymyra, as her influence in the development of her love of life, what makes her happy, her passion. "Hospitality runs in our family, my mother was a wonderful hostess. She taught me how to cook, how to serve people, how to bring them comfort, how to make them feel good. That is what I like to do," she says.

Sobkiw's mother's approach to the role of hostess was quite simple - planning. "I remember my sister's engagement dinner my mother hosted at our home in the mid 1950s. We worked together on it. It was the most wonderful party with small roasted Cornish hens, garnished with grapes dipped in sugar. Everything was perfect," Sobkiw says.

This perfection was the result of much work, work Halya Sobkiw loves to do, researching recipes, planning decor, proper timing and most important, hospitable services. "I love recipes so much that for a time I was reading cookbooks before I fell asleep at night instead of regular books," Halya says.

Making the dream come true
After her mother died in 1995 (Halya was caretaker for her mother during the last four years of her life) a friend came to visit and during a morning walk told her that she needed to pursue a new career. "She told me that for the last 10 days I had entertained her, fed her, and kept her occupied and, as a result, she felt wonderful," Sobkiw says. At the time, Sobkiw was working for a caterer in Sarasota, Florida which provided food for the Minnesota Twins spring training camp. "Driving home from work one night it came to me what type of job would be all of what I love to do ... a bed and breakfast," she says.

On the internet, Sobkiw researched bed and breakfast properties in many different states, at her own admission she, "lived and breathed bed and breakfasts." She visited a friend in Rhode Island and fell in love with the area, but any property she pursued didn't work out for some reason or another. Then on a visit here for a family wedding in August 2001 (Sobkiw is related locally to the Sodoma family of Sodoma Farms through her father's side of the family), a family member told her the Nichols property was for sale. "I looked at the property and in three days I had a handshake agreement with (Bud) Nichols," she says. By October, she had her property in Florida sold, was packed and moving north.

The job of achieving your dream
Immediately after occupying the historic Canalside Inn as the new innkeeper, Halya set out to remake it in her own vision. Built in 1810-20 (the inn was added on to between 1830-1850) the inn includes innkeeper's quarters; four rooms for guests, each with its own private bath; a large parlor; a sunny, small dining room Halya calls the morning room; a kitchen, and a pub with adjacent large dining room. The pub and large dining room are all original yellow pine wood -- floors, walls and ceiling. One can easily imagine the diverse and, of course, historic conversations visitors stopping in their travels along the Erie Canal might have had over the last 150+ years.

This is not the first historic home that Halya Sobkiw has restored, it is actually the sixth home she has redone in her unique vision. "I love color and I want color around me. I get great satisfaction from someone walking into a room I have decorated and telling me they think it is beautiful," Sobkiw says. The inn came complete with rooms full of antique furniture and approximately 20 oil paintings. Halya has brought in her own antiques, crystal, paintings, china and objects d'art she has collected. She is completely redecorating the guest rooms, one at a time, giving much thought to the process, planning and researching, the same skills taught to her by her mother.

The guest rooms are currently named by the type of wood used to build the furnishings. There are the pine, chestnut, walnut and tiger maple rooms. Among the walnut marble top tables, chestnut chest of drawers and Victorian high board bed in the furniture collection at the inn, is a massive butler's chest made of tiger maple. When closed the piece looks like huge chest of drawers. To open, a drawer front drops forward and reveals a writing desk complete with six small storage drawers, pigeon holes for letters and a small covered storage area.

Sobkiw is discovering many surprises in restoring the property - many wonderful ones such as the beautiful 7 to 10 inch wide plank white pine floors in the parlor revealed after the carpeting was removed. Sobkiw is doing the decorating work herself - the painting, scraping and decorating. She is assisted with the heavy work by her son, Daniel, who currently lives with her, helping her get established. "I don't know what I'd do without him," she says.

The role of the innkeeper
Halya Sobkiw is happy in her new role as innkeeper; she has found her passion and is living her dream. She says, "My role as innkeeper is as different as my guests are. Some are looking for a friend, some are looking for a servant, some just need a room for a night. I think the role of the innkeeper is a combination of all of these things. My goal is that when a guest leaves, instead of a handshake, they give me a hug and tell me they enjoyed staying at my inn."

Sobkiw has made future plans for her Adams Basin Inn. She plans to expand the inn by using the 1923 all original Arts and Crafts style home located on the property next door to the inn that she purchased at the same time as the inn. She plans on somehow incorporating the use of the existing pub and adding a restaurant. "The restaurant will only be serving on the weekends," she says, then after a pause she adds with a smile, "To begin with anyway."

The dream continues.

The Inn over the years

1823-1824
Pub and large dining room section of Inn built. Building commissioned by the State of New York to be used as a store to provide the essential food, drink and mail, for those people building and those following along with and settling on the banks of the Erie Canal

1827-1858
Store purchased by Marcus Adams. Continued to be used as a mercantile store and post office during this period of time.

1858-1890
Marcus Adams sold the property to an investor in 1858. Over this period of time the history is not clearly documented. It was during this time that another building was moved to this site and connected to the original building. It is also known that for a period of time Joel Milner owned the store, it was also sold to W.O. Marshall and at that time was known as the W.O. Marshall Hotel. It was also owned by the Gallup family who operated the property as a hotel.

1890
Sold to the Ryan family and known as the Ryan House. In 1916 the inn and tavern were closed to the public and used as a private residence.

1972 - 2001
Inn sold to Lewis "Bud" and Elsie Nichols. The Nichols used the inn as a private residence and also operated a small antique shop there. In 1985 the Nichols again opened the inn to the public as The Canalside Inn Bed and Breakfast. During this period of time Bud Nichols, a well known historian and preservationist, worked to restore the inn to its former beauty. Nichols installed the current main entrance salvaged from the 1842 Nathaniel Rochester house in the city of Rochester.

2001
Inn purchased by Halya Sobkiw to be operated as a bed and breakfast.

Information compiled from conversation with Lewis "Bud" Nichols