History
The hotel was started by Norwegian immigrants Martin and Maria Oleson and his family who purchased a four-room log cabin from Reverend Andreas Iverson in 1866. Over the years, the family built additional bedrooms and began renting these rooms to guests in the summer of 1893. Additions allowed for more and more accommodations and in 1901, the building officially became the Hillside Hotel.
150 Years of Hospitality
Hillside Waterfront Hotel of Door County is on the National Register of Historic Places. It became one of the first hotels in Ephraim as the area transitioned from lumber and fishing to tourism. It included the wooden hotel, cottages, and outbuildings—built as early as 1864.
Luxury
In 2002, Hillside Waterfront Hotel was remodeled into a luxury Door County boutique hotel by Jim and Claire Webb with close attention paid to maintaining the original integrity of the outside structure. It closed in 2010 and was reopened by current owner, Diane Taillon, in 2016. Diane operates her real estate company, Arbor Crowne Properties, off the lobby of the inn.
