The last Wandlyn Inn closes in Amherst, N.S.

If you've ever driven past Amherst, you've probably seen the Wandlyn Inns from the highway.

Built in the late sixties, the hotel was a community hub with a bustling pool area, bar and restaurant that featured a Sunday buffet.

At one point, Wandlyn Inns were in many cities across the Maritimes.

“In Bedford and Moncton and Kentville. Fredericton, Saint John. They were all over Atlantic Canada, but this is the last one that still held the name,” said hotel owner Glen Ward.

But the Wandlyn Inn name will be gone soon.

Ward is modernizing the hotel, he said, and in the process the Inn is being converted to a Travelodge franchise.

“It's an old hotel. It will always be an old hotel. We're doing what we can to renovate it, but it will be a budget friendly hotel. That's one of the reasons we've moved to a Travelodge brand so we can be recognized internationally,” said Ward.

“There's a generation that recognizes the Wandlyn, but of course there's a newer generation that's never heard of it.”

Sarah Gilroy has worked at the 90-room hotel on-and-off for the past 18 years. The hotel’s general manager was happy to come back when Ward purchased it last year.

“The community itself has lots of memories of the hotel back in its heyday,” Gilroy said. “It's going to be a very, very big draw for the community to come back out here and to be able to have their meeting spaces and community area again.”

This week the iconic blue and orange Wandlyn highway sign and the sign at the front entrance of the inn will be coming down, but the memories will remain.

“It was a very popular spot for locals,” Ward said. “I can't tell you how many families have told me that they got married here or learned to swim here or something of that nature.”

The plan is to keep the Wandlyn name for the convention centre, Ward said, to hold on to a piece of the hotel’s past.