The Haunted Commonwealth

Need a place to stay just outside the Tennessee-Virginia line, then the Martha Washington Inn is the place for you.  The hotel has a rigid history or murder, warfare, and heartbreak that leads it to be one of the more interesting hotels in the commonwealth today.  The official site for the Inn goes into detail about the history of this establishment.

The Martha Washington Inn began life as an illustrious home indeed! It was built in 1832 as a private residence for General Francis Preston and Sarah Buchanan Preston and their nine children. In 1858 the Preston family home was purchased for the incredible sum of $21,000 dollars in order for the mansion to become an upscale college for young women.

The “War Between the States” was soon to have a dramatic effect on the college. Schoolgirls became nurses and the beautiful grounds became training barracks for the Washington Mounted Rifles. Union and Confederate troops were involved in frequent skirmishes in and around the town with the college serving as a makeshift hospital for the wounded, both Confederate and Yankee. Despite the devastating effects of the Civil War, the Martha Washington College survived. However, the Great Depression, typhoid fever and a declining enrollment eventually took its toll. The Martha was closed in 1932, standing idle for several years.

In 1935, The Martha Washington Inn opened as a hotel and throughout the years has hosted many illustrious guests. Eleanor Roosevelt, President Harry Truman, Lady Bird Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Elizabeth Taylor are counted among the many famous guests who have frequented the hotel. Fortunately, much of the inn’s historic charm, antiques and architectural detail were preserved, even though its future was at times uncertain.

In 1984, The United Company, representing a group of dedicated businessmen, purchased The Martha Washington Inn and began an eight million dollar renovation. Aware of this historic landmark’s importance to the town of Abingdon, the restoration was carefully designed to preserve and enhance much of its original splendor and architectural detail.

In 1995, The Martha Washington Inn joined The Camberley Collection of fine historic properties. Sensitive to their role as stewards of a long and enduring legacy, Camberley maintains the inn’s strong ties with the Barter Theatre and the community of Abingdon. Today The Martha Washington Inn stands as gateway to the past, providing those modern amenities expected by today’s traveler amid the genteel elegance of period antiques and furnishings.

Most of the hotel's paranormal vitality stems from the old Cival War days when the building existed as a girls nursing college.  There is an alleged headless horse that gallops outside on moonless nights, looking for its fallen rider.  There is a legend of bloodstains that could never been washed away, even when the carpet was replaced.  People have seen apparitions of Confederate soldiers on the hotel's grounds. 

However, the most intriguing story involves room 403.  A college student named Beth who attended the college was ordered to help out a cival war soldier named John Stoves, who had been shot multiple times.  Stoves found out that Beth could play the violin and asked if she could play for him to help lessen his intense pain.  As John moved closer to death, Beth began to fall in love with the soldier.  Within a few days the soldier died from his shrapnel wounds.  Heartbroken, she too soon died of what is presumed to be typhoid fever although some said she died of a broken heart. This is why on some nights, strange violin music can be heard by guests who are staying around room 403.

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