Arrowhead Hotel
No matter where you go these days, the topic of conversation will eventually land on the country's semiquincentennial. Each community wants to outdo the next in planning an exciting way to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary.
As most of you are undoubtedly aware, Inlet is always up for a challenge, and the guiding light of the tourism/information staff literally pounced on this opportunity.
Historically, Arrowhead Park was actually the site of the Arrowhead Hotel, owned by the O'Hara family of Glenfield, NY. In1963, the O'Hara's offered to sell the property to the Town of Inlet. The Town Board at that time seized the opportunity to establish a town waterfront Park, keeping the Arrowhead designation.
What could be a more fitting and creative nod to the semiquincentennial of the country than to go back in time to build a representation of what life in Inlet was like long ago.
The "new" Arrowhead Hotel was constructed circa 1914 after the original burned. So, the idea approved by the "powers that be," was to rebuild that edifice. Oh, not to scale certainly, but a model that could be easily identified. (see postcard)
In order to place the hotel in approximately the same location as the original, the ball diamond will have to be removed. However, since Inlet is fortunate to enough to have two parks and, thus, two ballfields, it will be no big loss to remove the Arrowhead diamond, and, of course, move the scoreboard and dedication plaque to Fern Park. Luckily, the current tennis court is in almost the same location as the original; so, nothing about it will have to be modified.
In case it isn't obvious, having a hotel in Arrowhead Park is a money maker for the Town. Inlet already collects rent from the cabins that were created from the original "casino" building. Now the options become wider. Whereas it is impractical to rent a cabin for less than a week, hotel rooms can be rented for varying amounts of time, from one night on.
When the topic of building a new Arrowhead Hotel was first broached, some naysayers insisted that sharing the beach front and tennis court with hotel guests would cause overcrowding for the tourists who already treasure Inlet's amenities. However, once they are convinced that the influx of money from room rentals would, of course, be of benefit to taxpayers, the objections disappeared. The only other dissenting comments came from softball players, but that's another story.
The semiquincentennial project was approved and will get underway as soon as donations of materials and volunteers to complete the labor step forward.
Margie O'Hara - April 1, 2026
