41661 Plymouth Rd. Part of this structure (Main Entrance) was originally a homestead built circa 1889 which was made into a restaurant in 1934 and was added on to through the years. It first started out as the Hillside Barbecue, then Hillside Inn for years before becoming Ernesto’s in the 80’s. It is currently the Courthouse Grill and still features Chef Ernesto’s Italian dishes. This Plymouth landmark holds many great memories for thousands of people in and around Plymouth and has been enjoyed by generations.
Below are some historic photos that were shared by the descendants of the original owners/proprietors of the Hillside Inn.
41661 Plymouth Rd circa 1900
PlymouthMiDiscoveries 
It is truly a shame that this historical place is going to be demolished in the name of housing. Like we don’t have enough houses/condos that are not occupied right now. This is a wonderful place to eat, hold events/parties and the food is great. I hope these condos go unoccupied for a very long time.
I remember best dining next to the windows, especially in the dark winter, and watching the thick snow fall and the lights of the cars coming up the hill on Plymouth Road. I also remember my husband and me looking for birds and wildflowers in Hines Park in afternoons, then reaching the Hillside, where we stopped for a drink at the bar. Finally, I recall that my parents drove from Detroit sometimes to dine at the Hillside in the 1950s.
The Hillside has also been host to at least two Nobel Prize Literature Winners: Joseph Brodsly, very soon after his dramatic exit from the Soviet Union, and the Irish Poet Seamjus Heaney. It has hosted many other poets as well.
The big sign outsde often advertised very exotic fare,such as roasted rhinoceros or the ghastly like. I would still see such signs on my way to work, having wondered what would have come next. The Hillside is such an old institution, and the developers so unabashedly greedy. For the Hillside to be demolished for another such institution, more up-to-code, is one thing. For it to hit the dust for housing is quite another. I, too, would like to see the new shelters slide right down the hill into Plymouth Road.
Oh, please don’t dig up the cemetery. What a lovely place to walk around and then sit very still against a tombstone to watch the birds fly in and out their nests with food for their young ones.
Most sadly,
Joanne Stein, City of Plymouth resident for Fifty Yeats