Connecticut, United States

The Abner

Price per night from$253.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD253.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

The Abner Photos

Style

Awe and order

Setting

Lead the Litchfield

Explore

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The evidence is overwhelming: The Abner has added an assuredly cool tone to the quaint streets of Litchfield, Connecticut. Set in the district’s original courthouse, dating back to 1888, the hotel has been renovated with conviction: saffron palettes and local artwork warm light-washed rooms, a crowning rooftop bar makes summer evenings a coveted occasion and the restaurant exhibits East Coast classics in the old courtroom. We’ll leave you to decide the verdict…

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Facilities

Photos The Abner facilities

Need to know

Rooms

20, including five suites.

Check–Out

11am, and check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include a Continental breakfast, served daily at the Courtroom Restaurant.

Also

One of the Family Suites is located on the ground floor and has been adapted with a roll-in shower for wheelchair users. There are elevators servicing all three floors, so both bars and the restaurant are accessible for guests with limited mobility.

At the hotel

Golf course nearby and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: Tivoli Bluetooth radio, minibar filled with locally sourced treats, free bottled water, bathrobes and Further and Palermo bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Lean into Litchfield’s history and opt for one of the Chamber Suites, set by the courthouse’s original entrance. Ochre-hued interiors are warmed with restored fireplaces and sunlight-welcoming sash windows, and the check-tiled bathrooms are fronted by vaulted doors that date back to the 1880s.

Packing tips

You won’t need your gavel for this one, instead pack a flower-pressing book and preserve New England’s famed fall foliage.

Also

A handful of the lamps around the hotel were created by local ceramists Dumais Made, and were designed as abstract odes to Litchfield’s storied clock tower.

Pet‐friendly

Up to two furry friends are welcome to join you at The Abner, and 50 per cent of the one-off $100 (per pet) charge will be donated to Litchfield’s local shelter, The Little Guild. See more pet-friendly hotels in Connecticut.

Children

Welcome; there aren’t dedicated facilities for tots, but the Family Suite sleeps up to four (two on a sofa-bed).

Food and Drink

Photos The Abner food and drink

Top Table

Bag one of the banquettes for the full Courtroom feel.

Dress Code

Swap the jabots and black robes for oversized Ganni-style collars, sweater vests and stylish suit trousers.

Hotel restaurant

You’ll be witness to more than sash windows, lofty ceilings and swinging pendants at the hotel’s sunlit Courtroom restaurant. Leather-lined banquettes were carefully renovated from the court’s original jury box and a local artist was called on to modernize the space with hand-cast ceramic lighting and a statement, mirrored wall. And we’re equally enamored with the food: seasonal New England staples (lobster halibut, shrimp cocktails, broiled scallops) are deftly prepared by head chef Michael Alfeld and team with locally sourced ingredients.

Hotel bar

Across from the restaurant, the Parlor’s rich orange hues and easygoing atmosphere make for convivial pre-dinner cocktails and dreamy nightcaps. When the weather warms, rooftop Verdict pours locally brewed beers, wines and creative concoctions against a quaint New England backdrop starring Litchfield’s clock tower.

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 7am to 10am and dinner is dished between 5pm and 10pm at the Courtroom. The Parlor pours from 5pm to 10pm, Wednesday to Sunday. The rooftop Verdict is open seasonally, starting in April, from noon to 10pm.

Location

Photos The Abner location
Address
The Abner
15 West Street
Litchfield
06759
United States

The Abner sits down Litchfield’s central West Street in Connecticut, New England.

Planes

Bradley International Airport is in Hartford, around a 50-minute drive from the hotel, and private transfers can be arranged from $75 each way. For anyone arriving from within the States, or catching a connecting flight, there’s a second, smaller airport in Hartford and New Haven — both around an hour from the hotel by car.

Automobiles

You won’t need a car if you’re staying around Litchfield. If you’re planning an East Coast road trip and bringing a set of wheels, there’s free parking on-site.

Worth getting out of bed for

Get to know your small-town surroundings with a wander down The Abner’s abutting West Street, lined with independent boutiques, such as Oliphant Designs and the Workshop. Collectors will have their pick of antiques at Bradford House and Jeffrey Tillou, or find your next novel at Hope & Honey bookstore. 

If you’re here for fall foliage, head to the viewing platform on Apple Hill, walk the White Memorial Conservation Center’s hiking trails and explore Topsmead State Forest. During the summer, Bantam Lake draws crowds for canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding and jet skiing.

Local restaurants

West Street Grill is locally loved in Litchfield for its cozy, trattoria-style setting and elevated French and Italian fare. You’ll find modern takes on New England’s traditional plates (crab cakes, clam strips and oyster tacos) at the Village Restaurant. And just outside of town, Community Table makes your 15-minute drive worth it with farm-to-fork cuisine (some ingredients are grown on-site, others come straight from Connecticut’s local growers) and a welcoming, relaxed locale.

Local bars

Freshly baked pastries and brews make mornings all the more enjoyable at Espresso 59, a quaint coffee house set on the Green. If you’re heading out for the day, Petraoia Deli has an extensive selection of grab-and-go sandwiches and salads.

Reviews

Photos The Abner reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this historic hotel in Litchfield and unpacked their antiques and Dumais Made ceramics, a full account of their New England break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The Abner in Connecticut…

As far as opening statements go, The Abner makes a compelling one. Just off the Green, in Connecticut’s postcard-pretty town of Litchfield, this hotel was the area’s central courthouse for over 100 years. After the court was decommissioned in 2017, the skilled names behind Salt hotels slipped in to take over — and there’s no doubt they’ve done its history justice.

Renovations were carefully considered, so as not to disturb the legacy of the space. Witness stands are now welcoming reception desks; bookbindings on legal tomes inspired the ochre hues that characterize cozy rooms and suites, tasseled ‘do not disturb’ signs nod to judges’ robes, and striped bathrobes put a playful spin on jail suits. The strongest ties to its past, however, are in the second-floor restaurant — a suitably grand space that was once the building’s courtroom. The original jury stalls were reupholstered with emerald-green leather and converted into banquettes, now seating a (likely less tense) crowd for season-led dining. Add in a rooftop bar, blithe parlor and trad East Coast locale, and you’ll be sold on this spot beyond reasonable doubt.

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