Little is known about the Mumford-Caledonia area before the Revolutionary War. During the Sullivan Campaign of 1779, Indians lured the army into the heart of their territory. After the soldiers returned with glowing tales of the fertile soil they had seen, settlers started making their way west. Caledonia and Mumford were settled by Scotsmen who came and built mills for woolens, flour, and plaster.
The Genesee Country Inn is located in the Hamlet of Mumford in the Town of Wheatland, Monroe County in New York.
The land where the Inn now sits was purchased by Philip Garbutt, a local entrepreneur in 1833. It is assumed he built his plaster mill on this site shortly thereafter. The mill was run by Dougald McQueen throughout the 1840s. The Garbutt plaster mill was a busy place through the 1850s and 1860s since farmers used ground gypsum (and plaster) as a fertilizer. Around 1862, Stephen Salisbury built a saw mill on Spring Creek behind the Garbutt plaster mill. During the depression of 1873-1879, the Garbutt plaster mill was closed. It was reopened for a few years in the early 1880s but was finally closed by John Garbutt in 1886.
In the late 1880s, George Stewart took over the Garbutt plaster mill and opened a shop where he turned out spokes and hubs for wheels, and hammer handles for a firm in Rochester. He also operated a sawmill between the plaster mill and Spring Creek. The sawmill behind the Garbutt Mill closed in 1881 with the death of Stephen Salisbury. In 1882 the site was bought by W.D. Strobel and L.L. Allen and a new woolen mill was built. Both men operated the Trout Brook Woolen Mill until L.L. Allen retired two years later. Strobel continued on alone. The woolen mills later went out of business due to competition from the large eastern mills and their new equipment. In 1899, Mr. E. Turner rented the building and installed machinery for the manufacture of smoking pipes and other novelties. He built a 50 foot high chimney. The pipe factory was closed down in 1904.The following year, Mr. Gardner from Rochester Paper Company bought the property and opened a paper mill. The Gardner Paper Company began operations in May 1905, and their first product was toilet paper. The Gardner Paper Company also bought the old stone mill from George Stewart and remodeled it into a residence for the superintendent of the plant.
In 1915, the Gardner Paper Mill was now a residence with the acreage encompassing both the plaster mill and the paper mill. The mill was owned by George Skivington, and later by Rudy and Mary Jane DeFazio, before being purchased by Greg and Glenda Barcklow in 1982.
The Barcklows turned this plaster mill into the Genesee Country Inn, which they ran successful until 2003 when Glenda Barcklow sold it to Hal and Fran Robinson. The Robinsons ran the Inn until June 2006 when Fran sold it to Richard and Deborah Stankevich. The Stankevichs had been looking for the “perfect place” for six years. On a trip home to visit their families, Richard and Deborah visited the Genesee Country Inn and fell in love the property. Now they are living their dream and loving every minute of it.