Built in 1877 and expanded several times, The Arlington was a prominent fixture on the grounds boasting fanciful gingerbread, extensive parlors, dining rooms, verandas, and sleeping apartments.
The hotel started as the “Mount Tabor House,” built in twenty days by Mr. S. M. Mattox, of Rockaway. It was opened on August 1, 1877 “…The building is seventy feet long by thirty-five feet front and the first floor is provided with tables and chairs sufficient to allow 200 persons to eat at one time. The upper story is provided with cozy, well-furnished sleeping apartments for the accommodation of about forty persons.” It was financed by David Campbell who was reimbursed in time by the Camp Meeting Association.
Under the CMA the hotel was enlarged twice, and the name changed to “The Arlington.” The hotel boasted extensive parlors, dining rooms, and verandas, and guests could choose from an American or European plan.
The hotel served as a gathering space for guests, as well as a restaurant for those who could afford it. Visiting ministers often stayed at the hotel. An Arlington Hotel advertisement in the Mt. Tabor Record, dated August 20, 1892, offered reduced rates for September, boasting that “the Hotel is located, according to the report of scientific statisticians, on the most healthful mountainous range in the United States, and cured by the invigorating and Health Restoring Qualities of the Air and Water.”
The expanded hotel is an impressive building. The first floor opened to a barbershop, grocery store, drugstore, and ice-cream shop. As the popularity of Mount Tabor grew, so too did the demand for housing. The Arlington Hotel offered 14 bedrooms on the second floor. In 1895, two water closets were added. Although many boardinghouses served the ever-growing numbers, the Arlington Hotel was “unexcelled in this part of the State.” The Depression and the rise of the automobile signaled the end of Mount Tabor as a summer community. With fewer and fewer guests, the CMA eventually decided to have the building taken down. A section of the stone foundation of the hotel remains today, serving as a retaining wall between the resident parking lot and Simpson Avenue. While the hotel may no longer exist physically, its legacy lives on as a symbol of a bygone era when Mount Tabor was a thriving summer community, and the Arlington Hotel was a prominent fixture of social activity in the area.Looking up Asbury Place from Simpson Avenue affords the viewer this streetscape seen in this early postcard. 14 Simpson Avenue is in the foreground. 25 Asbury Place is the next house uphill from Simpson Avenue. The bay windows and the gable decoration are very distinctive.
