Virginia Hotel

The Virginia Hotel was built in 1847 in Staunton, Virginia, and quickly became known as one of the finest hostelries in the commonwealth.Verify source|date=September 2008 Built on the site of the old Washington Tavern,Cite web|url=http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080830/LIFESTYLE22/808300303|title=A Laundry Owner's Generosity and Other Bits of History|accessdate=2008-09-09|year=2008-08-30|author=Charles Culbertson|work=The News Leader] the northeast corner of Greenville Avenue at New Street,Cite web|url=http://www.staunton.va.us/default.asp?pageID=90F8F592-A0AB-43EF-8DB5-1E7199264360|title=Staunton in the Civil War|accessdate=2008-09-09|publisher=City of Staunton] the Virginia Hotel gained fame during the Civil War as the headquarters of Stonewall Jackson,cite book | title=Stonewall| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1uxvr9DXrBkC&pg=PA257&dq=%22The+Virginia+Hotel%22+Staunton&ei=O6bGSM2oM4jcygTupIHABg&sig=ACfU3U3-j31L2sM7z4tHw6giz2O_2OjPSg| last=Farwell| first=Byron| date=1993| pages=257| publisher=W.W. Norton & Company| id=ISBN 0393310868] and served, alternately, as a hospital for Confederate soldiers and as headquarters for conquering Union Gen. David Hunter.cite book | title=Staunton| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ucIzsgfmHMAC&pg=PA58&dq=%22The+Virginia+Hotel%22+Staunton&ei=O6bGSM2oM4jcygTupIHABg&sig=ACfU3U1KA_Otpj9X2VKsxb02MdtJA5hImA| last=Troubetzkoy| first=Sergei| date=2004| pages=58| publisher=Arcadia Publishing| id=ISBN 073851697X] It also served as a meeting point for several US Presidents.Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D04EFD91F3EEF34BC4A51DFBE66838E649FDE|title=The President in Staunton, Va.; From the Staunton (Va.) Vindicator|accessdate=2008-09-09|year=1855-08-22|work=The New York Times]

After the war, the Virginia Hotel thrived under a succession of owners until, in the late 1800s, it was refurbished and renamed the New Virginia. In 1926, the Virginia's owner -- Alexander T. Moore -- announced he would demolish the historic old hotel to make way for a new hotel, which would adjoin the newer Stonewall Jackson Hotel, of which he was also owner. Moore demolished the Virginia Hotel in October 1930, but the new hotel was never built due to financial constraits caused by the Great Depression. The lot sat empty for years, was used to house a gas station in the 1950s, and then built upon by the city of Staunton for a parking garage.

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