Talk:Walker's Inn

The name of the inn

I am a direct descendant of the family that built and lived in the Inn. It has always been referred to as The Walker Inn, not Walker's Inn. I have not been successful in changing the main title. I was successful in changing references with the article. Walkerbennettv1 (talk) 19:18, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

Reviewing the sources, it is referred to as "Walker's Inn" without the article. Please list the sources that refer to it as "The Walker's Inn". Sam Sailor 19:28, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

Sources for the name of The Walker Inn

Our Heritage, The People of Cherokee County North Carolina 1540-1955 by Margaret Walker Freel. The Miller Printing Company, Asheville, NC. 1956. Pages 112-113.

Margaret was also a direct descendant of the original family that built The Walker Inn. William Walker's son was George Walker,and Margaret was his daughter.

Additionally, she published another book about the Walker family's story beginning Unto The Hills, Copyright 1976. Walkerbennettv1 (talk) 19:44, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

The Walker Inn

William Walker and his wife Margaret Scott Walker built the Walker Inn in 1840. They are my great, great, great grandparents. My great great grandparents were their son, William Pitt Walker and Sallie Johnson Walker. Their son, John William Walker was my great grandfather, a banker in Andrews, NC. His son, William Pitt Walker, II was my grandfather, and his son, William Pitt Walker, III is my father. Walkerbennettv1 (talk) 19:48, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

Further proof of the name Walker Inn

In the same reference mentioned above, Our Heritage, The People of Cherokee County North Carolina, 1540-1955, by Margaret Walker Freel, on the illustration page, is a photo of my great great great grandparents that says,"William Walker, owner of Walker Inn and Indian Trading Post of Old Valley Town, and wife, Margaret Scott, daughter of Maj. John Scott, cousin of General Winfield Scott." Walkerbennettv1 (talk) 20:03, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

@Walkerbennettv1: I took the liberty to convert your three section-2 headings to bold text, that way we have the discussion under one single heading; I hope you don't mind.

My apologies for not reading you correctly above. Apart from the definitive article being part of the name, you additionally say that it does not contain the possessive suffix -'s. I.e. the name should be "The Walker Inn".

Let us look at the sources:

• "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010. lists the building as Walker's Inn. (Deep-linking is not possible, you will have to search yourself.) A search for The Walker Inn returns Walker's Inn.
• The "NRHP nomination for Walker's Inn" (PDF). North Carolina SHPO. June 4, 1975. Retrieved October 13, 2024. refers to the site as Walker's Inn throughout. There is no mention of "The Walker Inn". The document's section Statement of Significance not only mentions several of your family members, but it says

  The Inn was apparently well established before 1857 when it was visited on July 6th by Frederick Law Olmsted. In his book The Slave States, Olmstead described his visit:

  'I have to-day crossed the Tomahila mountain, having spend the night at an unusually comfortable house, known throughout all the country as "Walker's," situated at its western base. Apparently it is a house which the wealthy planters from the low country make a halting station on their journey to certain sulphur springs farther north and east. There were plenty of negroes, under unusually good government, and the table supply was abundant and various. Yet every thing was greasy; even what we call simple dishes, such as boiled rice, and toast, were served soaking in a sauce of melted fat. I gave the stable boy a quarter of a dollar for thoroughly cleaning my horse, but rode away with less than usual scrutiny of the harness, and when I came to climb a steep pitch of the mountain, discovered that the rascal had unbuckled and kept the preventer-girth.

  The road which is excellent, and which was built by aid of a State appropriation follows for some distance the slopes of a water-course, and then, tack and tack, up a steep mountain-side, until, at about twelve miles from Walker's, ...'

• The Acme Preservation Services (June 2014). "Historic Architectural Resources Survey Report" (PDF). NC.gov. Retrieved October 13, 2024. writes:

  Only nine properties in Cherokee County are listed in the National Register and, of these, three located in Andrews, including the mid-nineteenth century Walker's Inn, the 1900 Franklin Pierce Cover House, and the First Baptist Church, built in 1923. (p. 6)

  The report goes on to write:

  Two log houses in the Andrews area—the ca. 1835 Thomas C. Tatham Log House and the ca. 1844 Walker's Inn (NR, 1975)—are among the oldest surviving structures in the county. (p. 15)

  The report lists among its sources
   • Freel, Margaret Walker (1956). Our Heritage: The People of Cherokee County, North Carolina, 1940-1955. Miller Printing Company. Retrieved October 13, 2024. (On a side note while looking for an online digitized copy of the book, I noticed that Ms Freel received the Asheville Museum of History's 1958 Outstanding Achievement Award for the book.)
• The book citation I added to the article
   • Holland, L. (2020). The Nantahala River: A History & Guide. Natural History. History Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-4396-7077-4. Retrieved October 13, 2024. writes:

  After lunch, the stage headed up Choga Creek on the turnpike toward supper and the night at Walker's Inn at Valley Town. That historic building is still in its original location on Junaluska Road outside Andrews.

Based on the above sources, the stable and current title Walker's Inn is correct. Sam Sailor 00:28, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

References