The Berkshire Country Inn, which was founded as the Garrison Motor Inn in 1964, is open under new ownership and management as the Clarion Nashua after a major $2.5 million renovation.

If you’re a lifelong, or at least longtime, Nashuan born early in the baby boomer generation or the latter years of the Greatest Generation, you may have elected to say goodbye to 1965 and ring in 1966 at a new place in town that promised “plenty of noisemakers and surprises,” a “great dinner with champagne cocktail” and the rare chance to “dance or rock to two great bands until 2 a.m.”

And, a special bonus awaited those who chose this venue to do their New Years Eve celebrating that year: You’d become part of Nashua history.

That’s because you’d not only be “ringing out” 1965 and “ringing in” 1966, you’d also be “ringing out the old” – the Garrison Motor Inn – and “ringing in the new” – The Berkshire Country Inn.

Indeed, a little look-back in Telegraph archives answers the question a lot of us local boomers have often asked of nobody in particular: Which came first, the Garrison or the Berkshire, and when was “Master Hosts Inn” on the big sign, the one designed to catch the eye of passing Everett Turnpike motorists?

Here’s the sequence: Construction began in 1963 on a new hotel/motel/inn/motor inn on land between the turnpike, Amherst Street and the Henri Burque Highway – then known as the Nashua Bypass.

Dean Shalhoup

Come May 1964, a gala grand opening welcomed area folks to the brand new Garrison Motor Inn, whose location was described as at the “junction of 101A and Everett Turnpike,” the former of course being Amherst Street.

The grand-opening splash was still making ripples when, for some reason, the Garrison, owned by Romeo Briand, George Sprague and Bob Gingras, and managed by Henry Richards, transitioned into the Berkshire Country Inn, just a year and a half later.

Fast forward to today: If you went inside and looked around, you wouldn’t recognize the place.

The transformation of the modest, two-story hotel is a prime example of a sweeping, down-to-the-frame, $2.5 million renovation undertaken earlier this year by Purvish Patel, who with his brother runs a hotel management company owned by their mother, and whose 11th-hour purchase offer was the one the motivated sellers selected.

Patel, whose family owns and manages two independent hotels – the Tidewater Inn and Hunters Green, both in East Yarmouth, Massachusetts – teamed up with Melan Hotel Group executives Rob McCarthy, the founder and CEO, and managing director Tim Hogan in a franchise arrangement that brought the name “Clarion Nashua” back to town.

Purvish Patel, center, the manager of the newly-renovated Clarion Nashua, stands in the hotel's main lobby with Rob McCarthy, left, founder and CEO of the Melan Hotel Group, and Tim Hogan, the group's managing director. The hotel underwent a $2.5 million renovation after Patel bought it earlier this year.

Hogan, as many locals will recall, managed the former Clarion on Somerset Parkway until it became the Crowne Plaza. It is now a DoubleTree property.

Regulars and frequent visitors to the 99, which for years has occupied the hotel’s lower level, need not worry: The 99 isn’t going anywhere, Patel said.

Clarion Nashua’s location, and having the 99 on the premises, are two huge benefits for the hotel, Patel said.

Both of those fit well with Patel’s plan to focus on the business traveler, he said while showing a visitor around the other day.

Indeed, the hotel now features two separate spaces Patel calls “business centers,” one of which features a giant conference room table and probably a dozen or more chairs that face a 65-inch TV monitor. Meeting participants will find “state of the art technology” ready for their use, he added.

The other space is set up like a classroom, with movable tables and podium that can be configured as desired.

Patel said he is in the process of reaching out to different groups and organizations in the area by offering an introductory deal: One free use of a meeting space “and a good deal going forward,” he said.

He said he has invited local police, firefighters and other emergency services, along with organizations like the Red Cross, to use meeting spaces for training and emergency preparedness purposes, at no charge.

Local commuters who use the state park-and-ride lot adjacent to the Clarion Nashua may have noticed some much-needed improvements to the lot and its surroundings, including paving and installation of lights and security cameras.

McCarthy and Hogan said they and Patel had been after the state for months to tidy up the lot and increase security and safety, but kept getting the same response: “We don’t have the money.”

So Patel took it upon himself to fund the improvements, and while he was at it, installed the first of two or three charging stations for electric vehicles.

While business travelers and hosting functions are two of Patel’s priorities, he intends to keep “a community feel” to the hotel, something that Hogan said was always at the top of his list when he managed the Somerset Parkway Clarion.

Regarding a “community feel,” it appears while perusing some vintage ads that the Garrison and Berkshire ran in the Nashua Telegraph, the then-owners may have been seeking the same atmosphere back then.

“The public is invited to inspect the premises and become acquainted with the varied opportunities for community and social gatherings,” reads a full-page ad announcing the Garrison’s grand-opening week.

The hotel, according to its promotional folks, offered the ideal combination of “Colonial atmosphere and decor” and “the ultimate in modern conveniences … .”

And it featured “55 rental units, including a bridal suite.” It doesn’t give the nightly rate for the bridal suite, but it was probably a good deal, because regular rooms went for $5 per night.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Newsletter