Entrepreneur celebrates 35 years of ownership of a Skaneateles
landmark, the Sherwood Inn

By Mary Beth Roach

Bill Eberhardt sits in one of the dining rooms of the Sherwood Inn, the historic establishment in downtown Skaneateles; he looks out onto the scene across the street — the sweeping panoramic view of Skaneateles Lake — and says that this vista is one of the reasons for the success of the inn he took over 35 years ago.
And from the tall windows that line the front of this landmark building on West Genesee Street, the view is beautiful, to be sure — the park with its picturesque gazebo, the lake and the rolling hills in the background.
But there’s a lot more to the success of this legendary inn and restaurant, which has become the flagship of Eberhardt’s thriving hospitality company. Much of it has to do with the owner’s diligence and his focus on the details.

At the age of 67, having spent decades building a prosperous business and figuring prominently in the development or redevelopment of many properties in the Central New York area, Eberhardt still finds his work rewarding, regardless of the inevitably busy days. He still enjoys it and receives a great deal of satisfaction from it.

“I don’t work as hard as I used to. I am trying to blend in all of my other interests,” he says.

And his interests are many and varied — whether it’s fly-fishing in the quiet waters of the Adirondacks, climbing the region’s highest peak, hunting, tennis, boating or helping to restore a vintage vehicle.

He’s scaled mountains in Europe, yet he seems to have an affinity for the Adirondacks and the adventures and the relaxation that this area can offer.

He’s a member of the Adirondack 46’er Club, a group of climbers who has completed the Adirondack High Peaks, 46 mountains ranging from Couchsachraga Peak, with its 3,820-foot elevation, to the 5,344-foot Mount Marcy.

It was an achievement that was about 20 years in the making. Some of the mountains he has climbed multiple times, he says, due in part to the spectacular views they offer. Others, he says, were more challenging, taking more than a day to climb. “But you did them to put them on your list.” he adds.

When not on one of the area’s mountaintops, Eberhardt might be found on one the Adirondacks’ many crystal-clear lakes or streams or on a hiking trail. This outdoorsman also belongs to a fishing club in the Adirondacks, and he has hiked the Northville-Lake Placid Trail, which is by no means any little walk in the woods. This 130-plus-mile wilderness trail stretches from the southern Adirondack foothills to the High Peaks region in the north.

He owns a couple of boats, and he recently assisted in the restoration of a 1965 Porsche, a project he became involved with in Florida, and he’s eager to get the vehicle on the road here.

Within the past several years, two of his five children, Ben and Meredith, have come back to the area, joining him in the business, and he delights in their participation. Son Brian is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, daughter Stephanie is in the defense industry in Washington, D.C., and another daughter, Mia, is graduating from Skaneateles High School.

Ben returned after serving 12 years in the military; he is working at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton, and is beginning to become involved in Skaneateles.

The elder Eberhardt signed a lease in 2004 with Colgate University to manage the Colgate Inn. Aside from the fact that the place provided an opportunity for his son to join him, he also enjoys the atmosphere surrounding that establishment. “The families that come and go, and the kids, and the activities, and the sports teams, it’s fun; it’s a great property,” he said.

Meredith came back about 12 months ago, after working at Disney World, among other places. She claimed that the Sherwood brought her back, and she is working at the inn. One recent afternoon, she took a break from her duties at the Sherwood to talk about her return to Central New York and about her dad.

“I keep coming back because there’s just a feeling here. It’s a home away from home,” she said, adding that the staff is like a very large extended family. “This is where I grew up.”

“He [my dad] said if I wanted to learn the business, I’d have to start in housekeeping and work my way throughout,” she said, “So I did every position in the front of the house, everything with the exception of the kitchen.”

This hands-on education has proven beneficial, enabling her to step in and help out wherever needed.
While Eberhardt was discussing his involvement in restoring the motor on the Porsche, Meredith interjects that this is an example of his thoroughness.

“He’ll look at every corner and adjust. This is where I’m getting the ‘meticulous’ because he takes everything and looks at the detail and makes little adjustments, little tweaks.”

While her comments elicit a chuckle from Dad, it’s his focus on the particulars that may be a big reason for the many rave reviews that his inns receive.

For example, condenastportfolio.com writes that the Sherwood “has been meticulously restored to the beauty of a bygone era. . . with pegged wood floors, antique furniture and fine wood detailing.”

That the rooms are unique in their design and décor, and that such attention has been given to furnishings and appointments are what guests find appealing.

Since the Sherwood Inn opened in 1974, thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people have crossed its threshold in downtown Skaneateles, including President Bill Clinton and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, and a host of other notables.

Mrs. Clinton has stayed in one of the 25 guest rooms located on the upper two floors of the Inn. And if the stories Eberhardt has heard are true, Vice President Joe Biden worked at the Sherwood part-time while attending SU law school.

Eberhardt hails from Buffalo, but went to high school in the Dewitt area, graduating from Syracuse University in 1965, with a business degree before entering the Army. He later interviewed with banks and corporations for junior management positions, but no one was hiring, he said.

“That’s how I ended up in this business because I was working my way through college,” he said. I needed to do that. . . . My father died when I was young, so this was the vehicle that I used to make the bridge.”

So he went back to the Walter White’s Restaurant, that he had worked for, among others, while in college.
“The White family owned it,” he said, “and that’s who I really learned the trade from.”

He stayed with the restaurant, helping the family open the one in Fairmount and then one in North Syracuse before deciding to branch out on his own.

The Walter White restaurants were well-known in Central New York — places, Eberhardt says, where people went and had good times. While still working in Fairmount, he and his young family moved into a farm in Skaneateles, and it was during this time that he saw the Sherwood Inn in a dilapidated condition. “It was all boarded up, closed up. A big piece of plywood on the door with the number ‘4’ and the word ‘SALE,’” he said. And although in rough shape, Eberhardt saw its potential and started making inquiries.

He began the process of purchasing it in 1973 and opened in 1974.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said, “but I believed in it, obviously, and that was it.”

And since that time, Eberhardt has renovated the whole property. Every year they work on something, he added.

After the Sherwood, Eberhardt opened Phoebe’s Garden Café, now called Phoebe’s Restaurant and Coffee Lounge, on East Genesee Street and Irving Avenue, just down the hill from his alma mater. Phoebe’s has a rich — albeit, lively — history. The restaurant’s Web site says that according to local lore, the building was originally a brothel, whose madam was named — yes, you guessed it — Phoebe.

But the majority of his businesses are in and around the Skaneateles area, where he also makes his home.

During his three-plus decades since opening the Sherwood, Eberhardt has helped to reshape the main thoroughfare in Skaneateles, as well. Through his company, Dining Associates, formed in the late 1970s, and together with various business partners, he has built, redeveloped, opened, managed or operated at least five businesses along or immediately off West Genesee Street in this Finger Lakes community.

These businesses are: The Packwood House, which opened in 2003 a half block away from the Sherwood, on the site of the former Skaneateles Post Office, with a Talbot’s shop on the street level and 19 contemporary suites above. The four-room Village Inn on Jordan Street, which his company manages. In the Seitz Building on Genesee Street is the Japanese restaurant, Kabuki, which reopened recently following a renovation. The Bluewater Grill, across the street, which has a scenic view of the lake; Riddler’s is a newsstand-confection-tobacco shop, also on Jordan Street; and Patisserie on Hannum Street.

And not too far from the Skaneateles business district is the Hobbit Hollow Farm, a five-room bed and breakfast in a turn-of-the century farmhouse that sits on 1,000 acres on West Lake Road, overlooking the lake.

He notes that because of the various styles of the properties, he and his staff can provide guests with a greater variety of accommodations.

While his daughter might attribute his success to his diligence, he, credits his success, in large measure, to good managers and partners, quality staff, and well, “working at it for 35 years.”