The Stone House Restaurant was hit hard last year when Irene struck Guilford. This year when Sandy hit, The Stone House was again in the path of destruction of a super storm. The restaurant had 15 inches of water in it during Sandy's pass over Guilford.
But this time around, owner Peter Hamme is much more optimistic about a speedy recovery, and hopes to be up and running around Thanksgiving. This weekend, he spoke to Guilford Patch about recovery efforts.
"We're about 6 or 7 weeks ahead of our recovery compared to last year with Irene," said Hamme. "We learned a lot from our last storm experience, like how we need to sandbag and raise our ovens. We knew what to do this year."
This second time around, they've also been able to be more proactive. "We already self-condemned the food we lost, which speeds up the process" Hamme stated. "Last year we waited around for the insurance companies to do that."
Only a few days after Sandy, great progress has already been made. "We already ripped down our dry wall that needs to be replaced, and tore up the carpet, and a new one is already on its way," continued Hamme. "We have an electrician coming in, and my partner is meeting with a health inspector this weekend."
"We will have to replace a fridge compressor, a loose motor for the dishwasher, an air conditioner, and do some external repairs," said Hamme. But even with the work that needs to be accomplished, the owner was optimistic that the restaurant would be open around Thanksgiving if all went as planned.
One thing Hamme was completely confident in saying was that none of this work could have been completed without the support of his friends, neighbors, customers and employees.
"They've painted table legs, cleaned floors, and even helped us prepare for the storm beforehand," said Hamme. "We've had many customers, employees and friends offer us continuing support and none of this would have been possible without them."
