After news broke that the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh was housing a busload of asylum seekers last week, a family-owned wedding venue began to receive negative calls and emails asking why they were housing migrants.

Lippincott Manor is a 15-acre mom-and-pop wedding destination located in Wallkill, but very often recommends different hotels in neighboring areas to couples. Owners Patricia and Martin Van Dyk mention that the media referred to them as a “wedding hotel,” and this is basically why they soon got associated with the Crossroads Hotel.

“We have a whole lot of our couples go to that hotel and stay there overnight, get ready to get married, come here at our venue, get married, and have their wedding,” said Patricia Van Dyk, who mentioned that this hotel is one they have linked on their website as recommended lodging for weddings.

However she stated that misinformation spread fast, and soon after they started receiving tons of emails, phone calls and social media posts, some of which Patricia Van Dyk described as “vulgar.”

Though the pair didn’t respond to any unnecessary hate, they did try to contact others who thought they were canceling weddings and housing migrants, both of which weren’t true.

“I did get back to the ones that I could and let them know that they have been misinformed. We are a wedding venue, this is our eighteenth year and we have a great reputation. Where these people got this idea that we’re housing immigrants, I don’t know, but it’s been really bad,” said Patricia Van Dyk.

Though they aren’t canceling weddings, Patricia Van Dyk mentioned that the hotel had canceled pre-booked reservations for upcoming weddings. Lippincott Manor, unfortunately, can’t do anything about this. “Our couples have been staying there for years and we’ve had no problems. Since this situation, there are a lot of hateful people out there and they directed their hate toward us,” Patricia Van Dyk stated.

However, many past couples and people familiar with the venue have shown support for the Van Dyk’s.

“They’re [supporters] very gracious, they understand that it’s just the wrong impression and it kind of pulled us into a nightmare,” said Patricia Van Dyk.

The Van Dyks want to clear the air and make sure people see them for what they are: a rustic outdoor wedding venue.

“I put out this big post on Facebook and a whole bunch of people shared it. There was so much support,” Patricia Van Dyk mentioned, “I just want to make sure this was clear, that we are not a hotel and we do not have any migrants. The Crossroads was just a recommended hotel on my website.”