After 13 years of protecting and interpreting Civil War battlefields in the
eight-county Shenandoah Valley National Historic District, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation has a new home.
The Battlefields Foundation has purchased the historic Lee-Jackson Building at the intersection of Congress Street and Old Cross Road in New Market, the original portion of which was constructed around 1808 for John Strayer’s home and mercantile business. The Foundation plans multiple uses
for the building. The first floor will include a food service facility (in
cooperation with the Town of New Market), a store, and the SVBF’s fourth Civil
War Orientation Center; the center will help visitors understand the Civil War
history of the middle Valley and then direct them to the sites where they can
explore that history today. The Foundation’s offices will be housed on the
second floor, and the third floor offices will be rented.
Denman Zirkle, Executive Director of the Battlefields Foundation since 2009, said the Foundation has been negotiating with United Bank
for the property “for some time”. He said, “The Foundation is fortunate to have
acquired such a valuable, historic, and commercially viable building that is
integral to our Valley’s Civil War experience. Having our own home will present
opportunities for community engagement, cooperation, and commercial operations that were not possible during the first years of our operation.”
The Foundation is planning to move into the facility by March
1, and a formal opening is planned later in the year. Frazier & Associates
of Staunton is working with the Foundation to provide appropriate exterior
treatments and signage, as well as to improve the parking area at the rear of
the building. Since 2007, the Foundation has been located at the Shirley House,
a facility just north of West Old Cross Road, owned by V.M.I.
“SVBF’s purchase of the Lee-Jackson Building will strengthen
the Foundation’s capabilities,” said Rod Graves, Chairman of the Board of
Trustees, “Especially its mission to promote tourism in the
Valley.”
Since its construction in 1808, the building has expanded and
has housed various enterprises. In 1884 the building was converted to become
the first hotel on the site, Hotel Carrolton. In 1903, the name was changed to
Hotel Thaxton, and in 1921 to the Battlefield Inn before becoming the
Lee-Jackson Hotel. In 1980, the building was converted once again into a retail
business, this time selling pottery and antiques while using the old hotel rooms
to depict bedrooms from different periods. In 2004, the building came into the
possession of Larry and Sharon Smith who completed extensive refurbishing of the building the following year, opening the Publik House restaurant on the first
floor, and renting offices on the second and third floors. In 2008, ownership
of the building was assumed by United Bank, which sold it to the
Foundation.
The Lee-Jackson building has seen its share of history and
famous visitors. In 1862 General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson conferred with
his chief cartographer, Col. Jedediah Hotchkiss, then later that year reviewed
his troops from the stoop of the building as they passed on their way to Luray.
Later, in 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early was a visitor in the Strayer
home, and in 1909 bandmaster and composer John Philip Sousa and his wife and daughter were guests at the Thaxton Hotel.
The Foundation was incorporated in 2000 as a public
non-profit corporation and the management entity to implement the 1996
legislation that created the National Historic District. Since then, SVBF and
its partners have protected over 6,000 acres of Valley battlefield land, while
providing interpretation of the battlefields and promoting educational and
visitor programs.