Sign up for our Newsletter

The Pridwin Hotel on Shelter Island is closed for renovations this year. (Credit: Elizabeth Wagner)

The Pridwin on Shelter Island has long been a summertime favorite of East End visitors and locals alike — particularly during the hotel’s popular Wednesday night cookouts.

But for frequent guests yearning for that next plate of clams, mussels and freshly caught tuna, the wait for the next cookout will be a little longer this time around.

The hotel, currently undergoing renovations, will not open in 2020.

“It’s the first time that we’ve done such a significant update in 50 years,” said Glenn Petry, whose family has owned the Shore Road hotel since 1962. “It’s the first time we ever closed for a summer season. That’s what’s unique and kind of shocking about it.”

The Pridwin opened in 1927 on nearly 10 acres overlooking the Peconic Bay. Like a lot of structures built around that time it’s been long overdue for upgrades, Petry said. Most of the renovations involve increased accessibility, like moving the front desk to the first floor, installing an elevator and making the bathrooms ADA compliant.

Some of the mouth-watering options at the weekly cookouts. (Credit: Elizabeth Wagner)

The updates also involve increasing the size of the rooms in the main hotel and adding more cottages elsewhere on the property.

“We’re bringing her into the current century,” Petry said, while making sure to note that the aesthetic will remain similar. To achieve the latter, the Pridwin hired an architect who specializes in vintage hotels.

The realization that the Pridwin would not be open this year came into focus around the new year and Petry said it came as quite the shock to many of the regulars, who rely on the business for summer lodging and a home for community events.

The Wednesday night cookouts started as a way to give the kitchen staff a night out but still feed guests. They have grown over the years into a wildly popular summer ritual as folks come from all over the East End by ferry or private boat.

For Petry, whose grandparents first visited the hotel in the 1930s, long before the family owned it, recognizing the hotel would not open this year was a bittersweet realization.

Make no mistake about it though, “the Pridwin will still be the Pridwin” when it reopens, he assured.

The hotel upgrades will be complete in time for bookings and summer cookouts in 2021.

X
X