The land the house sits on originally belonged to Innkeeper Susan’s gggg great grandfather, William Friend Wilson. Wilson married the daughter of the first settler,
a man named Booth. At that time, the area was called Booth’s Ferry. Wilson built a woolen and grain mill on the Tygart River in 1818.
It doesn’t appear that any building was on the two corner lots until somewhere near 1860. An early small brick home or office dating to the early 1860’s encompasses the front section of the house. The small brick office may have been the law offices of Carlile, Dayton and Woods prior to the Civil War. A multi-story wood frame home sat next door to the brick office. Unfortunately, this large home burned to the ground in the early 1900’s. The stone stairs still exist in the garden.
This office/house would have seen the first land battle of the Civil War in early June 1861. Union and Confederate troops would have camped on or near the property. The troops used the famous covered bridge just a short walk
away from the house to transport supplies.
During the Civil War, the small town of Philippi became a ghost town. Almost everyone left for safer places in the country or with family members in other areas. Several thousand union soldiers were housed in the town frequently during the war and more than once the bridge was almost burned to keep supplies from being transported across the river.
In 1885, Cora Mae Crim Peck and her husband
Melville Peck bought the property and greatly expanded the house. Cora Mae Crim Peck was the daughter of J. Napoleon Bonaparte Crim, politician and wealthy businessman.
Melville was an attorney, county prosecutor, city clerk and mayor of Philippi. Melville eventually became a judge. Cora Mae and Melville ran a newspaper in town for a time. They lived in the house until around 1915.
They then sold the house to her only sibling, her brother Edmund and his family. The house remained in the Crim family for 115 years.
Cora Mae had windows for the house brought in by
special freight wagon over the mountains. Since her father owned the local mercantile store, they furnished the house with the finest oak and ornate 19th century furnishings including the beautiful and ornate oak stairway and the library.
The Victorian beauty is again
ready to welcome and entertain visitors.
Gordon and Susan, innkeepers, pride themselves on making their guests feel at home from the first moment they step into this historical Victorian.
Come
visit
sit on the porch and
let the cares of the world
