Walking Horse Hotel
| Walking Horse Hotel | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Address | 101 Spring Street |
| Town or city | Wartrace, Tennessee 37183 |
| Country | United States |
| Named for | Tennessee Walking Horses, a breed the Wartrace area is known for producing |
| Renovated | 2007 |
| Owner | Joe Peters |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | Seven |
| Website | |
|
walkinghorsehotel | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Current owner(s) | Joe Peters |
| Previous owner(s) | Floyd Carothers |
| Chef | Jason Thompson |
| Seating capacity | 75 |
| Reservations | Encouraged |
|
Walking Horse Hotel | |
  | |
| Coordinates | 35°31′38″N 86°20′4″W / 35.52722°N 86.33444°WCoordinates: 35°31′38″N 86°20′4″W / 35.52722°N 86.33444°W |
| Area | 3 acres (1.2 ha) |
| Built | 1917 |
| NRHP Reference # | 84003262[1] |
| Added to NRHP | July 19, 1984 |
The Walking Horse Hotel is a hotel on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located in downtown Wartrace, Tennessee. The hotel is in business as such, and also contains the Strolling Jim Restaurant, named for the original owner's National Championship-winning show horse.
History
The Walking Horse Hotel was first built in 1917 as a railroad hotel.[2] In the late 1930s, it was the base for a group of horse trainers who eventually created the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, an annual horse show held in nearby Shelbyville since 1939.[3] The first winner of the Celebration, Strolling Jim, is buried behind the hotel.[4][5] Currently the Tennessee Walking Horse National Museum has a framed portrait of Strolling Jim on display.[4] The hotel was owned by Floyd and Olive Carothers from 1933 until 1958. It was sold several times, renovated in 1995 and reopened as the Hotel Overall. It was closed several years later, renovated again by new owner Joe Peters, and reopened in 2007 with the original name.[6] True to its history, the hotel retains many Walking Horse-related artifacts.[7]
Modern day
The hotel was renovated in 2007, and now includes the Chais Music Lounge, named for the owner's late wife, and the Strolling Jim Restaurant, which serves three meals a day.[8][9] The hotel has seven rooms available for rent. Every fall from late September to Halloween, the Walking Horse Hotel is open to the public as a haunted attraction.[10] It is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Floyd Carothers, and in 1995 some guests reported seeing the ghost of Strolling Jim "prancing" around by his old stables behind the hotel. Paranormal activity is supposed to have dropped, however, after Olive Carothers, Floyd's widow, died in 1991.[11]
References
- ↑ Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ Carroll Van West. "Tennessee Historic Landscapes". Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ↑ "wartrace-history". wartracechamber.org. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- 1 2 "MTSU Loans Strolling Jim Portrait to Walking Horse Museum". April 9, 2015. Retrieved November 1, 2015 – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
- ↑ "Grave of Strolling Jim, Tennessee Walking Horse". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
- ↑ "Former owner's ghost haunts Wartrace hotel?". Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ↑ Carrol Van West. "Tennessee's Historic Landscapes:A Traveler's Guide". Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ↑ "New fine-dining venue in an unexpected location ... Wartrace". The Murfreesboro Post. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
- ↑ Cathy and Vernon Summerlin. "Traveling Tennessee". Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ↑ "Walking Horse Hotel". The Soundtrack of America, Made in Tennessee. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ↑ Alan Brown. "Haunted Tennessee:Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Volunteer State". Retrieved 1 December 2015.