The General Lewis Inn, Lewisburg: The Lady in White and Room 208

The General Lewis Inn has welcomed travelers in Lewisburg since 1929. Its oldest part is a brick house built in 1834, and the rest of the inn was built around it in a matching colonial style. Inside are spool and canopy beds, old china and prints, hand-carved mantels and the guest register from the old Sweet Springs resort. The inn has 23 rooms and suites, a restaurant and a cozy lounge called The Thistle.

It is also one of the most storied haunted inns in West Virginia. The best-known ghost is a lady in white linked to Room 208, where a portrait of an unknown woman hangs. Guests have heard a little girl crying in Room 206 when no child is there, and older staff tell stories about the dining room, which stands in the oldest part of the house. The current owners say they have not experienced anything themselves. It is one of the highlights of our list of haunted hotels in West Virginia.

The ghosts of The General Lewis Inn

The lady in white of Room 208

The inn’s most famous ghost is a woman in white linked to Room 208. A portrait of a woman hangs in the room, and nobody seems to know where it came from or who she was. Guests have connected the two, and the painting is now part of the legend.

There are also reports of a woman in a gray, Civil War-era dress seen floating a little above the floor, according to accounts collected on a regional ghost history blog. Whether she is the same lady is anyone’s guess.

The little girl in Room 206

Guests and staff have described hearing a little girl crying, or sometimes laughing, from Room 206 or Room 208. When someone goes to check, the room is empty.

Online accounts also describe a little girl who joins guests for tea. In 2009 three women staying in Suite 202 reported a thin figure in brown, about the height of a rocking chair’s back, that turned away and vanished, and one woke to her bed shaking. Staff told them the little girl had been active in that suite too.

Reuben and the dining room

The darkest story is real history. John Withrow, who lived in the 1834 house, was a slaveholder, and log slave quarters still stand behind it. An enslaved man known as Uncle Reuben was hanged on June 28, 1861, accused of planning a slave revolt that never happened, according to Clio.

Local legend places his death where the dining room now stands and says he is seen sitting at a table there; a paranormal investigator once described a napkin rising into the air and falling. The historical record does not say where Reuben was killed. His death was a real injustice, and the ghost story built on it should be told with care.

The soldier in the hall

Lewisburg saw fighting in 1862, and the old slave cabin behind the inn later served as part of a Confederate line during the battle. Online accounts describe the footsteps of a Confederate soldier walking the upstairs hallway at night.

Older employees have their own stories, Clio notes, though the current owners say they have not experienced anything.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 208: The lady in white and the mysterious portrait. The inn’s most requested room for ghost-curious guests. Call to request it.
• Room 206: Where guests hear a little girl crying. A good second choice if 208 is taken.
• Suite 202: Where three guests reported a figure in brown and a shaking bed in 2009.
• The 1834 Master Bedroom: A king room in the original Withrow house, above the restaurant, and one of three rooms in the oldest part of the inn.

History of The General Lewis Inn

The oldest part of the inn is a brick house built in 1834 and occupied by John Withrow, from one of Lewisburg’s prominent early families. Withrow was a slaveholder, and log slave quarters still stand behind the house. His daughter, Lettie Ford, later inherited the property.

In the 1920s Randolph K. Hock and his wife Mary Noel Hock came to Lewisburg with a plan to turn the old Withrow house into a hotel that would show off the crafts and style of the early settlers. In 1928 the property was sold to a hotel company. The 1834 house became the east wing, a new central section went up, and a matching brick wing was added on the other end. Walter Martens, who designed the Governor’s Mansion in Charleston, designed the new parts. The General Lewis Hotel opened in May 1929.

The inn is named, like the town, for General Andrew Lewis. Born in Ireland in 1720, he camped by the spring behind the present courthouse as a young surveyor in 1751 and later led colonial troops at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774.

The Hock family ran the inn for three generations, until August 2014. Aaron and Sparrow Huffman now own it. They have added a reflection pool and pergola, and out front stands a yellow buckeye over 100 feet tall, the largest recorded in West Virginia. The inn sits in the 350-acre Lewisburg Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1978.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Call the inn to request Room 208 or Room 206; online booking may not let you pick a room.
• Have dinner in the restaurant, which sits in the original 1834 house.
• Look for the old Sweet Springs resort register in the lobby and the hand-carved mantels.
• Walk the historic district after dark. Confederate and Union troops fought the Battle of Lewisburg through these streets on May 23, 1862.
• The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, with its own ghost stories, is about 15 minutes away.
• Rates are modest for a historic inn, but weekends fill up during the State Fair of West Virginia each August in nearby Fairlea.

More haunted hotels nearby

• The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs: a historic resort with its own ghost stories, 15 minutes away
• The Blennerhassett Hotel, Parkersburg: West Virginia’s best-known haunted hotel
• Martha Washington Inn, Abingdon, Virginia: a haunted inn across the Virginia line
• Haunted places in West Virginia: more ghost stories across the state
• Haunted hotels in West Virginia

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Clio: General Lewis Inn
• General Lewis Inn: History
• The General Lewis Inn (official site)
• Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State: General Lewis Inn
• Wikipedia: Lewisburg Historic District (West Virginia)

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