Howland House
A restored 1870 farmhouse with lime-wash walls and custom-built furniture.
Howland House is a restored 1870 farmhouse in Mount Tremper, ten rooms, lime-washed walls, custom-built furniture, and a deliberately small program. It's part of the wave of Catskills properties that arrived in the 2020s with serious design budgets and short room counts — Inness, Piaule, Hotel Lilien, the better-restored cabins — and it sits comfortably in that conversation without trying to out-design any of them.
Ten rooms. From around $295 a night. The restraint is the product.
The setting
Mount Tremper is one of those Catskills hamlets that exists mostly as a crossroads — Route 28 meets Route 212 — with a handful of buildings around the intersection and a lot of forest in every direction. The Esopus Creek runs through. Phoenicia is ten minutes west, Woodstock fifteen east, and the Ashokan Reservoir is a short drive south. The Emerson Resort, with its Kaleidostore tourist attraction, is a couple of minutes up the road and easy to drive past.
The drive from Manhattan is about two hours, mostly the Thruway plus Route 28. The closest Trailways stop is Phoenicia.
The building
A restored 1870 farmhouse — clapboard exterior, a porch that's actually used, oak floors and lime-washed plaster walls inside. The restoration leaned restrained: bones intact, fireplaces operating, custom furniture built for the rooms rather than sourced from a catalog. The result reads like a private country house, not a hotel.
The rooms
Ten rooms across the farmhouse and a few outbuildings. Layouts vary; many rooms have working fireplaces, soaking tubs, and private outdoor space. Beds, linens, and bathrooms are at the level the price tier suggests. From around $295 in shoulder seasons.
Food & drink
Howland House isn't structured around a destination restaurant. There's a thoughtful breakfast program for guests. For dinner, the surrounding Catskills handle it: Phoenicia Diner up the road for the casual version, Cucina or Silvia in Woodstock for serious, the Arnold House and Spruceton Inn for slightly further drives, and the Emerson next door if you want to walk.
On the property
A small property at this scale doesn't need much, and Howland House mostly resists the urge to over-program.
- Working fireplaces in select rooms
- Lawn, gardens, and porch with Catskills views
- Walking access along Route 212 toward the Esopus Creek
- Open year-round
Who it's for
- Couples who'd otherwise book Inness or Piaule and want a smaller version
- Travelers who treat the room and the landscape as the program
- Architecture-and-design weekenders fluent in the lime-wash–and–oak palette
- Anyone who finds Hudson Valley hotels overscheduled with programming
Who it's not for
- Travelers wanting a full-service hotel with restaurant, spa, and pool
- Big groups — there are ten rooms total
- Light sleepers in rooms facing Route 212 — it's a quiet road but not silent
Nearby
Phoenicia is a ten-minute drive, with Sweet Sue's Pancakes, Mama's Boy Burgers, and the trail to Tanbark Loop. Woodstock is fifteen minutes east. The Ashokan Reservoir promenade, a four-mile flat path with views of the High Peaks, is fifteen minutes south. Hunter Mountain is half an hour northwest for skiing. Opus 40, Harvey Fite's bluestone sculpture environment in Saugerties, is twenty-five minutes east — and worth a half-day for design-minded guests.
