From Sea Captain’s House to Restaurant:
The Story of a Building on Ballston Lake
In about 1890, a retired sea captain built a house
near the northern end of beautiful Ballston Lake in upstate New York.
As did many people at that time in this part of the country, he farmed the land.
Property ownership records go back into the 1880s
but what was on the property before 1890 is uncertain.
A number of people named Collamer owned the property from
the 1880's to the early 1900's,
so that may indicate the name of the sea captain who built there.
In the 1920's, odd conditions were added to the deed and the mortgages of the time: regulations on what trees could and could not be cut down
and that the mortgagee must “quietly enjoy the premises.”
Also, indicated in many of the deeds of the 1920s was the fact that the property,
then known as “Lot 241,” was part of a plan for “Grand View Terrace”
owned by Ida Isenberg who had control over the property from 1923-1925.
Ice cutting occurred on the lake for many years during the long cold Northeast winters. Some of the ice cutting occurred on the lake right near the
sea captain’s original house and property.
Some years later, during the prohibition era,
local investor purchased the building to operate it as a rooming house.
Prostitution and gambling took place there and it became a local speakeasy.
When word got to the owners that a police raid was about to take place,
the gambling machines were often thrown into the lake,
an action that was corroborated by Union College sonar scans many years ago.
About 1940, the building was turned into a town tavern.
In 1973, it was opened as the Good Times Lakeview Restaurant,
hosted by the Fabini family.
They purchased it from the Romano family who had run a
restaurant there since the late 1950s.
The Fabini children were raised upstairs and, in 1991,
Desiree, one of their daughters, and Hugh Kelleigh took over the restaurant.
They owned it until 2013 when non-payment of taxes became
too great of a burden for the family to bear.
In 1992, a fire ravaged the building.
Started by a wood stove on the first floor, the upper stories were totally destroyed.
The building and the business were rebuilt within a year of the fire.
The family had also endured its share of personal pain.
Owner Hugh Kelleighwas diagnosed at age 38 with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease,
later also developed Multiple Sclerosis, and died many years ago.
Desiree and Hugh’s daughter ran in the 2013 Boston Marathon,
the race at which a bomb was exploded.
She was unhurt but unaccounted for during a period of many hours on that fateful day,
a major stress for the family.
After the restaurant’s closure in 2013, it became Villago in 2014.
A year of complete renovations changed the interior of the restaurant dramatically.
The new owners were Sandy Foster and her husband, Joseph Guerrera,
who have owned Village Pizzeria in Galway since 1988.
Their partners in Villago were attorney James Towne and builder Kurt Zarnofski.
Villago closed in 2021 and new restauranteurs took over: Matt and Stephanie Finnigan,
who had previously owned the business at Carney’s Tavern on Main Street in Ballston Lake. They opened Finnigan’s Tavern and Grill on the Lake.
Written and researched by Ballston Town Historian Rick Reynolds, September, 2021
The Story of a Building on Ballston Lake
In about 1890, a retired sea captain built a house
near the northern end of beautiful Ballston Lake in upstate New York.
As did many people at that time in this part of the country, he farmed the land.
Property ownership records go back into the 1880s
but what was on the property before 1890 is uncertain.
A number of people named Collamer owned the property from
the 1880's to the early 1900's,
so that may indicate the name of the sea captain who built there.
In the 1920's, odd conditions were added to the deed and the mortgages of the time: regulations on what trees could and could not be cut down
and that the mortgagee must “quietly enjoy the premises.”
Also, indicated in many of the deeds of the 1920s was the fact that the property,
then known as “Lot 241,” was part of a plan for “Grand View Terrace”
owned by Ida Isenberg who had control over the property from 1923-1925.
Ice cutting occurred on the lake for many years during the long cold Northeast winters. Some of the ice cutting occurred on the lake right near the
sea captain’s original house and property.
Some years later, during the prohibition era,
local investor purchased the building to operate it as a rooming house.
Prostitution and gambling took place there and it became a local speakeasy.
When word got to the owners that a police raid was about to take place,
the gambling machines were often thrown into the lake,
an action that was corroborated by Union College sonar scans many years ago.
About 1940, the building was turned into a town tavern.
In 1973, it was opened as the Good Times Lakeview Restaurant,
hosted by the Fabini family.
They purchased it from the Romano family who had run a
restaurant there since the late 1950s.
The Fabini children were raised upstairs and, in 1991,
Desiree, one of their daughters, and Hugh Kelleigh took over the restaurant.
They owned it until 2013 when non-payment of taxes became
too great of a burden for the family to bear.
In 1992, a fire ravaged the building.
Started by a wood stove on the first floor, the upper stories were totally destroyed.
The building and the business were rebuilt within a year of the fire.
The family had also endured its share of personal pain.
Owner Hugh Kelleighwas diagnosed at age 38 with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease,
later also developed Multiple Sclerosis, and died many years ago.
Desiree and Hugh’s daughter ran in the 2013 Boston Marathon,
the race at which a bomb was exploded.
She was unhurt but unaccounted for during a period of many hours on that fateful day,
a major stress for the family.
After the restaurant’s closure in 2013, it became Villago in 2014.
A year of complete renovations changed the interior of the restaurant dramatically.
The new owners were Sandy Foster and her husband, Joseph Guerrera,
who have owned Village Pizzeria in Galway since 1988.
Their partners in Villago were attorney James Towne and builder Kurt Zarnofski.
Villago closed in 2021 and new restauranteurs took over: Matt and Stephanie Finnigan,
who had previously owned the business at Carney’s Tavern on Main Street in Ballston Lake. They opened Finnigan’s Tavern and Grill on the Lake.
Written and researched by Ballston Town Historian Rick Reynolds, September, 2021
