MADISON — As farmers, friends and travelers fly down Route 20 in New York’s Madison County, they catch a glimpse of a sign at the intersection of County Route 41, urging them to turn north and traverse a few miles until the road ends.

There, on the Chenango Canal watershed, just steps from where this now humble hamlet’s train station once stood, the Hotel Solsville, aka the Solsville Hotel, still stands — a grand old building built in the 1830s to give refuge to barge and railroad men and gather folks from the neighborhood — waiting to welcome them.

Then, the tavern served up beer, limburger sandwiches and pickled eggs. On Fridays, it’s now fish fry day, with a menu that includes everything from burgers and salads to pork chops and pasta. The tavern still teems with locals; they switch in fried pickles for pickled eggs, burgers and fries for limburger sandwiches and there’s a full bar where the beer still pours.  

Current owner and Vernon Center native Brad Dixon has held court here for about 30 years. He gives a palpably proud tour, from a foyer featuring old photographs and the Solsville Post Office to the Chenango Canal House, aka the dining room, where supper is served from 4-9 p.m. every Friday and Saturday around a staid stone hearth, as old as the Solsville itself.

On to A.E. Dixon’s Irish Pub, which is warmed by a potbelly stove and carries on the tradition of the hotel’s original tavern. To its north is a great room that was once a stable big enough to park three horses and buggies and is now a hive of activity with live music, dancing, and banquets to celebrate important moments in the lives of Madison County residents.

On a snowy Saturday evening when the Buffalo Bills were playing, the pub percolated with faithful fans. In the dining room, a fire crackled while a notably friendly and accommodating wait staff stood ready to serve what Dixon dubs “big portions at good prices,” ranging from upstate’s traditional Friday Fish Fry - expanded to include shrimp, salmon and scallops and served on Saturday nights, too - to the dishes we indulged in, steak tips dressed in mushroom gravy over a mound of mashed potatoes and a rack of ribs.

The salad course was well-appointed, the meat was cooked to order, portions were surprisingly abundant, as promised, and the dessert tray tempted! 

The pub serves an assortment of fried fare one would expect from a traditional tavern, including the Hodge Podge, which invites you to choose your own combo of tavern treats.  

The bar menu is served seven days a week from lunch to close, which is whenever the customers clear out.

“If the bar is still open, the kitchen is still open,” promised Dixon.

One of the few changes Dixon made was to invert the name to Hotel Solsville. The only other change was to clean and fix ‘er up. He made his part of the story stand out by serving “comfort food” versions of fine dining with bigger portions, lower prices and a friendly local wait staff.

“What else would I do?” Dixon wondered aloud. “I sit at the bar and talk to my friends all afternoon.”

When asked if, by friends, he meant patrons, Dixon clarified that, to him, patrons and friends are the same.

“Family!”

There is an old saying that old houses don’t belong to people; people belong to them. To see Dixon perched at the end of his bar, nursing a bumpy glass of bourbon and watching over the room, it is to know that he has belonged to this old house.