Smithville
Fred and Ethel would be proud.
The Historic Towne of Smithville, a charming village of restaurants and shops where it always felt like Christmas, has arisen from the grave. "It's a miracle," says Fran Coppola, one of the new owners and a key player in the resurrection of the Galloway Township landmark.
Strong words? Perhaps. But just two years ago, Smithville founders Fred and Ethel Noyes were probably turning over in their graves.
The once proud attraction they created from the ruins of a colonial tavern on Route 9 was nearly a ghost town. Its decaying centerpiece, the Smithville Inn, was closed and boarded up, as were all but a handful of the 30 shops clustered around the Inn and Lake Meone. The Village Greene, a newer group of shops and eateries located across a footbridge, had suffered a similar fate.
Also gone were the trademark white Christmas lights that twinkled from every tree in the towne all year long. It's hard to say exactly when the attraction, founded in 1952 by the Noyeses, began its decline. But it was some time after the couple sold the property to the American Broadcasting Corporation in 1974.
Plagued by mismanagement under a series of absentee owners, Smithville was in noticeable decline by the late 1980s and bottomed out in December 1994, when the Inn closed and the two properties comprising Smithville were foreclosed by banks.
The rebirth began two years later when Tony and Fran Coppola and Chuck and Laura Bushar bought the Inn and the original Towne from a group of banks for $1 million. The couples, who lived in suburban Philadelphia, were longtime friends and had fond memories of Smithville.
The Coppolas had moved to South Jersey in 1988 when Tony, a former corporate executive in Philadelphia, took a job with a development company. "Fran started a shop in the Village Greene, I bought some stores in the Towne, and we got into the retail business," Tony says. Fran still owns and operates three stores; the candy store, the candle store and the Christmas store.
Bushar, a real estate broker and developer for the past 35 years, says he and his wife watched Smithville's downward spiral during their visits to the Coppolas. "It got to the point where one summer we came down, and low and behold, the restaurants and most of the shops were closed," Chuck recalls.
"I looked at Tony and said "What's going on. Is this place for sale or what?' And he looked at me with a funny smile on his face and said, "As a matter of fact it is. Are you interested?'" Such is how great deals are forged.
The two couples took possession of the property in January 1997 and went to work. "At the time, there were only seven stores open," Chuck says. "We started leasing the stores and by the end of 1997, we had them all leased.
Having Tony and Fran as merchants as well as owners helped us lease the buildings. They have a stake in the Towne's success." Of course, there was still the little issue of making them presentable.
The 30 shops were all restored historical buildings that had been moved to Smithville by the Noyeses and hadn't seen a coat of paint in years. "They were suffering from benign neglect by owners who had lost interest in the property," Chuck says.
"The roofs leaked. The heating systems and air conditioners didn't work. We fixed the roofs, replaced the mechanical systems and painted all the buildings."
By April, many of the shops had new tenants, and the new owners had reopened the former Joe's Place Restaurant as Fred and Ethel's Lantern Light Tavern. Today, there's an antique shop, a candle shop, a Christmas shop, magic shop and a smoke shop. There's a shop that specializes in birdhouses and a bakery that serves eat-in breakfasts.
The merchants also include Gary Giberson, the mayor of nearby Port Republic and an accomplished wood carver. Giberson has been moonlighting as Santa Claus for the kids who come into his shop. When a 4-year-old on his knee promised to leave him milk and cookies on Christmas Eve, he quipped, "Make sure it's oatmeal cookies and 2 percent milk."
Then there's the Cook's Corner, which for more than 20 years has been selling freshly roasted coffee beans and a dazzling assortment of hot sauces and kitchen accessories and collectibles. "We were here for the good times and the bad times," says Andy Perfetti, who runs the store with his wife, Kate and son, Adam.
Once the shops were opened, it was time to tackle the biggest challenge: getting the Smithville Inn up and running. Built in 1787 as a stagecoach stop on the road from New York to Cape May, the Inn had been expanded from its two original rooms.
The Noyeses converted it into a sprawling but elegant colonial style restaurant with a separate tavern and a half dozen dining rooms, including the grand Greate Bay room overlooking the lake.
"While the Inn was closed, the sprinkler system had broken and there was a lot of water damage." Tony says. "The roof, heating system and air conditioning had to be replaced. It needed a new kitchen." Adds Fran, "You could look up from the Greate Bay Room and see the sky."
In September, 1997, eight months and $1 million later, the Inn reopened in all its former splendor. Chuck says the owners went to great pains and expense to keep the Inn as it was in its heyday. The decor looks just as it did when the Noyeses ran the restaurant. The menu still features traditional American fare. Even the names of the dining rooms: Absegami, Captain's Table, Greate Bay and Baremore Tavern, were retained.
Despite all the improvements, the resurgence of Smithville would not be complete until something was done across the bridge at the nearly abandoned Village Greene. That something happened in July 1997, when Ed and Wendy Fitzgerald purchased the property, which included the lake and 43 shops and restaurants, for $1.2 million. "When we bought it there were only two tenants: a candy shop called Sweet Things and the German restaurant," says Ed, an Atlantic City firefighter and lifelong Absecon resident who has been buying and restoring distressed properties for 20 years.
He says he learned the Village Greene was for sale from a friend, Fran McManus, who owned Sweet Things. "After talking to Fran, I drove out to take a look. It looked like hell, which was right down my alley," Ed says the Village Greene was far easier to start up than the Towne.
Twenty-four of the shops were historic buildings moved to the site in the 1970s by the Noyeses who created a working colonial village to complement the Towne of Smithville. But those buildings were refurbished and 19 new shops were built when the Village Greene opened in 1988. "The electrical, plumbing, roofs, and heating systems were only 10 years old." Ed says. "All we had to do was paint them, landscape and rent them out."
Kids can once again ride the carousel, which has returned to the Village, or tour the town on a miniature train which Fitzgerald restored. There are radio controlled toy boats and paddleboats on the lake.
The Fitzgeralds' daughter, Tracy Walsh, is the train engineer. "I used to work at the casinos and get yelled at by old men," says Tracy, 29. "Now I drive the train and get hugs from little kids." Tracy also had the idea for the Village's talking Christmas tree. "It's modeled after the one they used to have at Steinbach's at the Shore Mall," Tracy says. "I loved that talking tree when I was a kid."
The Village Greene retains the colonial feel of the Towne, with specialty shops and restaurants. One shop specializes in southwestern furnishings and collectibles. The Tomasello Winery sells wine and gourmet foods. A German restaurant that survived the bad times is now thriving and has been joined by a quaint pizzeria with outdoor seating overlooking the lake.
The Village Greene has an added appeal for children. In addition to the rides and talking tree, various special programs geared toward kids are held at the Village's gazebo. Characters dressed as penguins, the Christmas Bear and Smitty the Duck regularly roam the grounds. There's even a charter kindergarten in one of the Village Greene buildings. And the Fitzgeralds aren't finished yet.
An artisan barn is planned for the site of an abandoned miniature golf course outside the Village Greene. The 4,800-square foot barn will be made of wood salvaged from two old barns and will feature blacksmiths, carvers, potters and other artisans plying their trades on the weekends. At night, the barn will host line dances, square dances and Victorian dances as well as sit-down shows for 150 people. It will also be available for private parties.
Many visitors to Smithville are unaware that the two sections are separately owned and the new owners say that's fine with them. Both sets of owners split the cost of the new Smithville brochures, which promote both the Towne and Village Greene. "We have joint marketing," Tony says. "We don't want people to think of it as two separate places. We advertise 60 shops, and there are seven places to eat."
Not everything at Smithville will be as it once was. Since the days of Fred and Ethel, the pine forests surrounding the Towne have given way to hundreds of condominiums and townhouses. A housing development now sits on the site where Tony Randall and Zero Mostel once performed summer theater in a huge tent and more homes are planned for the runway of the old Smithville airfield.
The Quail Hill Inn, a gourmet restaurant built by the Noyeses on the other side of Route 9, was razed years ago and the land remains vacant. In 1995,developer Steven Shilling announced plans to build a $17 million complex of outlet stores on the site, but the project has yet to materialize.
Still, the new owners constantly bring up the names of the Noyeses while talking about Smithville. "It was a special place when Fred and Ethel owned it," Ed says. "When I was a kid, we always used to come up here for family dinners and Christmas shopping." Adds Fran Coppola, "Everybody who comes here says it's just like they remember it when Fred and Ethel were here. It's heartwarming to hear that."