Pine Brook Manor reopens in Sparrow Bush as wedding venue

Pine Brook Manor has reopened in Sparrow Bush under Indiana and Colin Crilley, with the 1895 Hudson Valley estate being relaunched as a private wedding venue and boutique overnight retreat aimed at drawing couples, guests and spending back to the property.

The reopening is being paired with a business move called We Need More Love, which invites couples to submit their stories for a chance to win a wedding celebration at Pine Brook Manor. The selected couple will get exclusive use of the property for the event, including ceremony and reception spaces, tables and chairs, getting-ready spaces and on-site coordination support. For the Crilleys, the giveaway is less a one-off promotion than a way to introduce the venue’s next chapter and build attention around bookings.

That chapter is rooted in a long local history. Pine Brook Manor was established in 1895 in the original town of Rio as a Victorian boarding house called Pine Park Cottage, founded by Peter and Mary Dunwald. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the current inn offers eight king and queen rooms across two restored buildings. A new event hall was built with lumber reclaimed from the original barn that once stood on the site, tying the modern event business to the estate’s original structure.

The grounds include the 1895 House, a three-story historic building with original woodwork, fish-scale shingles, original stonework and a wraparound porch. The broader property stretches across 110 acres of forest, waterways and open land, with water views, a historic wood bridge and a waterwheel. Colin Crilley said it is “amazing to wake up and listen to the waterwheel turning.” Those features are now part of a pitch for immersive celebrations and overnight stays rather than a museum-style preservation effort.

Pine Brook Manor is designed to host one celebration at a time, with indoor and outdoor settings, woodland ceremony areas, reception halls and lodging on site. A current listing places full-weekend weddings with lodging at a starting price of $10,000 and a capacity of 101 to 150 guests. That positions the venue squarely in Orange County’s wedding market, where tourism materials emphasize easy access from New York City and the county’s appeal for romantic getaways. For Orange County, and especially for Sparrow Bush, the reopening carries an economic edge as well as a preservation one: the county’s economic development office says it works to grow employment and commerce, and a revived event venue can bring both.