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Nu Wray Inn

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Coordinates: 35°54′59″N 82°17′58″W / 35.91639°N 82.29944°W / 35.91639; -82.29944
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Nu-Wray Inn
Nu Wray Inn is located in North Carolina
Nu Wray Inn
Nu Wray Inn is located in the United States
Nu Wray Inn
LocationOff US 19E, Burnsville, North Carolina
Coordinates35°54′59″N 82°17′58″W / 35.91639°N 82.29944°W / 35.91639; -82.29944
Area0.7 acres (0.28 ha)
Built1833
Architectural styleColonial Revival
Websitewww.nuwray.com
NRHP reference No.82003535 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 15, 1982

The Nu Wray Inn is an historic hotel located at Burnsville, Yancey County, North Carolina. It was built in 1833 at the time Yancey County was formed and a year before Burnsville was established. It was originally built of logs and had eight bedrooms and a dining room and kitchen.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1][3]

Thomas Wolfe spent the night there in 1929 when he was a witness at a murder trial in Burnsville.[4] Elvis Presley and William Sidney Porter (O. Henry) were also guests.[5][6]

It was owned by the same family for a century until the death of Wray family patriarch Rush Wray.[5]

Writing about the Inn in 1941 the journalist Jonathan W. Daniels said:

Everything is on the table in the Nu-Wray Hotel at Burnsville. Nobody waits to give an order. They bring it in, three or four kinds of meat, all the vegetables of the whole mountain countryside. There are dishes of homemade jellies and preserves. The country ham is excellent. The stout tables do not groan but the stuffed guest rising sometimes does. It is country plenty, country cooked and country served, but in proof that the persisting homesickness for country eating is not entirely based on legend.[7]

It was purchased by new owners in 2021, and has been under renovation since then.[8][9] It acted as an important hub for recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. It housed 16 members of the New York Swift Water Rescue team before and after the storm.[10] They also worked with World Central Kitchen and fed hundreds of people every day during the recovery.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Haas, Irvin (1985). America's historic inns & taverns. Hippocrene Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-87052-025-9.
  3. ^ Jim Sumner and Michael Southern (January 1981). "Nu Wray Inn" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
  4. ^ Mauldin, Joanne Marshall (2007). Thomas Wolfe: when do the atrocities begin?. University of Tennessee Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-57233-494-6.
  5. ^ a b Richards, Constance E.; Kenneth L. Richards (2004). Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Mountains (7th ed.). Insiders Guide. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-7627-3004-9.
  6. ^ Brewer, Carson (1989). Just over the next ridge: a traveler's guide to little-known and out-of-the-way places in southern Appalachia (New ed.). Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-9615656-4-0.
  7. ^ Eubanks, Georgann (2010) [2009]. Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains: A Guidebook. ReadHowYouWant & University of North Carolina Press. pp. 63–65. ISBN 978-1-4587-1603-3.
  8. ^ Stepp, Lauren (2021). "History: New Owners, a New Future for Burnsville's NuWray Inn". Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  9. ^ Kennell, Tiana (August 7, 2024). "Historic Western North Carolina restaurant receives $50k grant for preservation, upgrades". The Asheville Citizen-Times. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  10. ^ "Nu Wray Hotel-An Anniversary We'll Remember". Our Local Community Online. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  11. ^ Kowles, Naomi (October 3, 2024). "Tears, trauma and togetherness after Helene's deadly onslaught in Yancey County". WBTV. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
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