Tom Hope is the former proprietor of Pint O Gwrw (now the People’s Pub) in Chatham, NY, and his wife, Lynne Michael, owns American Pie, a contemporary general store on Main Street. Lynne is still running American Pie, but Tom, who supposedly was going to “retire” and get back to painting, is now running the ice cream parlor in the hallway outside his wife’s shop. “The older I get, the busier I get,” he says, and Lynne says she’s pretty much always working. And it sounds like they love it. Tom does most of the talking: After living in San Francisco and Atlanta, we moved to Woodstock so I could pursue my painting career. Then we were in Kingston for a few years, and a friend suggested we check out Chatham as a good place for raising kids. We’ve been here ever since. This is a great community. Pint O Gwrw was a public space for the community. We did Celtic dinners, complete with bagpipers, and pretty much everybody had a kilt on. We’d mourn and party when someone passed away. On St. Patrick’s Day we prepared 300 pounds of corned beef, and it was on the house.
A La Mode and American Pie.
Lynne and I started a committee in 1998 to purchase 50 or 60 acres in Chatham and turn it into a preserve along with the Columbia Land Conservancy, which gave us a matching grant. The committee got Borden’s Pond Preserve functioning, right here in the village, where people walk, run or go cross-country skiing. Then we turned it over to the Conservancy. It was a seven-year project that we were proud to pull off. After I sold the pub, I was looking to learn how to flyfish, and go back to my painting, but in Albany I saw an old bar from the speakeasy days that was for sale. I couldn’t resist it. After three months of work, we opened Al La Mode, the ice cream parlor, on September 1. I plan to do a big elaborate bar back. I bought a 1940s milkshake maker and a wooden keg with spigots that I hope to fill with homemade root beer so we can make root beer floats. We’re closed for the season but will open back up in April. Chatham is a community that just takes you in. Even after all these years, we’re still floored by how gracious and welcoming everyone is. Everything Lynne and I have been doing has been to say thanks.
