February 25, 2025
By Jamie Marshall
Photographs by Arden Wray
For Eliza Clark and her husband, Tim Trojian, hospitality is a family affair. Together the couple own and operate Lost Fox Inn in Litchfield and Foxfire Mountain House in the Catskills. In 2019, they wrote a design and recipe book called Foxfire Living with their daughter Arden Wray, a photographer and stylist.
“That was our first real project as a family,” Clark recalls. “Once the book came out, people started asking us if we would consider helping them with their own homes.” That’s when the mother-daughter team launched their design business, Byrd Studio, in Kingston.
In 2022, Foxfire was featured on the television series Bespoke Homes, and their house on the Chesapeake Bay was featured on In with the Old in 2023. These days, Wray runs the design studio and her husband, Matt Cully, oversees operations at Foxfire.
“Everyone is involved,” says Clark. “Even Lila, my baby granddaughter, has been to every photo shoot since she was born.”
With their respective backgrounds in design (Clark spent much of her career as a television producer and writer) and food (Trojian was the executive chef at a luxury hotel in the U.S.) the transition to innkeeping unfolded organically.
“We wanted to find a way to spend more time together,” she says. First came Foxfire Mountain House in 2016, then Lost Fox in August 2024.
They were drawn to the Litchfield area because of its beauty and friendly atmosphere. They were drawn to the former Tollgate Hill Inn in part because of its location just outside of town. “Our guests can have both a town and country experience. You can be in town in no time, and also secluded in this enclave that feels like a little village in the country,” says Clark.
The couple spent two years renovating the property. Set on ten acres, the three-building compound consists of the main house with ten guestrooms—four of which have stone fireplaces; a former 1800s schoolhouse with a huge king suite; and the tavern, which dates to 1745 and has three dining rooms on the main floor, each with its own original fireplace. The second floor is a large dining room with velvet banquettes, massive chandeliers, and a huge stone fireplace; there is a cozy library, and a private dining room that has a secret door that leads to a king suite. Chef CJ Barroso’s seasonally based cuisine is a huge draw. Think New England classics with a contemporary twist. On Mondays, locals and visitors gravitate to the tavern’s Pub Night, with hearty pub fare and British beer.
The goal for the interiors was to keep the historic charm while “making it really luxe,” says Clark. She incorporated Roman clay walls, brick flooring, vintage artwork, Turkish rugs, marble bathrooms, and antique tin sconces. The grounds are equally beautiful, from the outdoor patio to the walled rose garden.
“From the very start, the renovations on the property were done with weddings and events in mind,” says Clark, pointing to the year-round tent pad and the gorgeous dressing areas—in the schoolhouse and tavern—for each partner on their wedding day.
As for the inn itself? The work continues, including turning the basement of the main house into a jazz cellar.
“We are still layering things in, so that takes time just as it would in someone’s home,” says Clark. “The joy of a boutique inn is that it feels like home. We are trying to keep the history of the place, and make it warm and inviting and have modern amenities that people expect.” Room rates from $220.
—Lostfoxinn.com
