WARWICK — Through the formation of a Warwick Social Center and digital equity program, residents searching for help with technology and internet-related questions or just looking to chat while enjoying a cup of coffee will be welcomed at the Warwick Inn.

While separate, the town plans to have the two programs run parallel to each other in an effort to create a sense of community among older adults, providing a space where residents can enjoy refreshments and socialize while being able to pose questions to volunteers with technological experience. The town hosted an ice cream social at the historic 14 Hotel Road building on July 7, followed by a technology open house on July 18, to reintroduce residents to the inn, which has been closed to the public for many years.

“The two programs overlap so much and sort of benefit each other so much,” Warwick Inn owner Lisa Vander Stelt explained. “At some point we will come up with a name that encompasses it all.”

With support from the Warwick Council on Aging and assistance from Town Coordinator David Young, Vander Stelt plans to have the inn open from 9 a.m. to noon on weekdays for residents to stop by beginning sometime in the fall, but with no firm start date determined yet. Young and Vander Stelt emphasized that the programs are not just focused on providing technological assistance, but providing a space where residents can go to interact with one another.

“We recognize with our attention to age-friendly communities that the social interaction piece is really important for everybody,” Young explained. “We don’t live as long in isolation.”

“People can read the paper here, they can talk, they can be doing their own downloading if they don’t access the internet on their own, we can be networking,” Vander Stelt said. “You often don’t know what other people share your interests until you have a chance to meet them and talk with them. … A lot of us, regardless of how comfortable you are with the internet, just like to find out things face-to-face, to read someone’s expressions or ask a question in real time.”

The inn provides internet access for residents who do not have internet at home. Young emphasized the importance of assisting residents who are switching from Warwick’s town-run broadband service to Spectrum, after its May expansion offering internet to a limited number of Warwick residents through its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

“Warwick Broadband has been very supportive — above and beyond the call of an internet service provider — with our resident subscribers to support their ... understanding how this works and that works,” Young explained. “As many of our customers have left for Spectrum, I’ve wondered, ‘What are they gonna do instead?’”

Vander Stelt emphasized the joy of having the Warwick Inn being put to use again after being closed for many years. Before Vander Stelt’s purchase of the inn in 1985, it was used as a bed and breakfast for travelers throughout New England. The 200-year-old inn would house travelers who could keep their horses in stables overnight and served as Warwick’s Town Hall for a period of time prior to the use of the current Town Hall.

For 10 years, Vander Stelt hosted weddings and various musicians playing live music in the Warwick Inn’s tavern on weekends before closing in 1995. The start of these two programs will mark the first time the inn has been open to the public since then.

“It has a very rich history here in town,” she said. “I’m just happy the town and the public can be part of it again. It’s very sentimental to a lot of people here in town.”