A hospitality name that traveled along West Main Street, and the Federal-period house it settled in for sixty years.
A house before an inn
102 West Main Street is the Sarah Stribling House, a Federal building of about 1810 with two front doors, interior chimneys and later wings, residential in origin and commercial by 1987, when its exterior was being restored — so the 1987 survey of Berryville's historic district describes it. A 2015 account, attributed to the county historical association's Maral Kalbian, fills in the century between: a house built for Benjamin Berry's daughter, who kept a boarding house; then the Showers family, cabinetmakers and tailors, for much of the 1800s. That account says the house "is said" to have been a Civil War hospital, and it is left said.
Source note: Berryville Historic District, 1987
The 1987 Berryville Historic District nomination inventories 102 W. Main Street as the Sarah Stribling House (historic name) and Battletown Inn (present name), a Federal building of ca. 1810 whose original use was residential and whose use in 1987 was commercial, with a one-storey west wing and two-storey rear wings, then undergoing exterior restoration.
What the source supports
The surviving building's survey date, original use, later commercial use and 1987 condition, from the nomination inventory.
Uncertainty
"Ca. 1810" is an architectural attribution, not a documented construction year; no deed, tax record or datestone was inspected. The nomination does not name a builder.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The inventory entry's names, uses and date.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 48, W. Main Street inventory, 102
Relevant passageSarah Stribling House-historic name. Battletown Inn-present name. Commercial-present use. Residential-original use. Federal. ca. 1810.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The wings and the 1987 restoration.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 48, W. Main Street inventory, 102, continued
Relevant passagestone foundation, two front entrances, interior end chimneys, 9 over 6 and 6 over 6 sash windows, 3-light transom over both entrances; 1-story west wing and 2-story rear wings; one of the oldest buildings in town currently undergoing exterior restoration
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly, 2015
The same feature, attributing the account to Maral Kalbian of the Clarke County Historical Association, says the house was built in the first years of the 1800s for Benjamin Berry's daughter, who ran a boarding house there, that it later housed the Showers family and their cabinetry and tailoring businesses through much of the nineteenth century, and that it "is said" to have been a hospital during the Civil War.
What the source supports
The reported pre-inn life of the house: family home, boarding house, tradesmen's premises.
Uncertainty
Attributed local history with no record cited. The hospital line is expressly hearsay in the source and is not asserted; an archive finding-aid entry ("Motor Car Inn (Civil War Hospital)") is a lead, not verification. The daughter is not named in the passage; DHR's historic name supplies Sarah Stribling.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The attributed paragraph.
Wanted: The Battletown Inn
Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly · 2015-06-17 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph attributed to Maral Kalbian
Relevant passageIt was built in the first years of the 1800s as a house for the daughter of Mr. Berry, who ran a boarding house there. ... it housed the Showers family with their various businesses, including cabinetry and tailoring. It is said to have been a hospital during the Civil War.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The other Battletown Inn
The inn that carried the name in the 1920s was somewhere else. The survey puts a "former Battletown Inn" at 5 West Main in its account of the motor-car years, and elsewhere says the Battletown Inn stood where the Lighthouse Inn later did, on the reputed site of an old tavern; it also lists the Virginia House, a late-1800s hotel at 9-13 West Main that had become the Lighthouse Restaurant. The 2015 article calls the earlier place the Virginia Hotel at Main and Church. Those descriptions do not line up neatly, and they are left as the sources give them. OCR of the Clarke Courier for 1925 shows the Battletown Inn hosting the regional hotel-and-inn association as guests of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Pulliam; the page images have not been seen, so that stays qualified.
Source note: Berryville Historic District, 1987
The same nomination places a "former Battletown Inn" at 5 W. Main Street in its account of the automobile era, says the Battletown Inn stood where the Lighthouse Inn then stood on the reputed site of an earlier "Old Tavern", and separately inventories the Virginia House, by 1987 the Lighthouse Restaurant and Berryville Variety Store, at 9-13 W. Main as a late-nineteenth-century hotel; it does not reconcile 5 with 9-13.
What the source supports
That the nomination itself knows a Battletown Inn other than the Sarah Stribling House, and where it puts that earlier inn; and that the address question is the source's, not this site's.
Uncertainty
The Old Tavern and Daniel Morgan story is "reputed" in the source and is treated on this site as a retelling (see the Battletown story). The 5 W. Main versus 9-13 W. Main discrepancy is left unresolved. "Lighthouse" is not an alias of the Sarah Stribling House.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The former Battletown Inn at 5 W. Main.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 66, historical narrative on the automobile era
Relevant passageThe former Battletown Inn at 5 W. Main Street attracted vacation travelers from Route 7, which runs through the town, and from Route 50, south of Berryville.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The Lighthouse Inn site and the reputed Old Tavern.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 63, historical narrative
Relevant passageWhere the present Lighthouse Inn now stands was the Battletown Inn, reputed to be the site of the earlier "Old Tavern", where Daniel Morgan, a local resident and Revolutionary war hero, was known to participate in brawls and fistfights.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: contextualizes. The Virginia House / Lighthouse Restaurant inventory at 9-13 W. Main.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 37, W. Main Street inventory, 9-13
Relevant passageVirginia House-historic name. Lighthouse Restaurant/Berryville Variety Store-present name. Restaurant/commercial store-present use. Hotel-original use. Victorian Vernacular. Late 19th Century.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly, 2015
A 2015 Clarke Monthly feature says the Battletown Inn "we have known" began in what was then the Virginia Hotel at the southeast corner of Main and Church streets, and that the name moved to 102 W. Main when the earlier inn's proprietors bought that property in 1952.
What the source supports
The reported origin of the later inn at another site and the reported 1952 move of the name to the Sarah Stribling House.
Uncertainty
A local retrospective naming no proprietors and citing no deed. Its "southeast corner of Main and Church" is not reconciled here with the nomination's 5 W. Main or 9-13 W. Main.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The Virginia Hotel origin and the 1952 transfer.
Wanted: The Battletown Inn
Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly · 2015-06-17 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on the earlier inn and the name transfer
Relevant passageThe Battletown Inn we have known actually started a couple of blocks down in what was then the Virginia Hotel, on the southeast corner of Main and Church streets. ... The name moved over to the current location when it was bought by the erstwhile Battletown Inn proprietors in 1952.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1925
Normalised OCR of the Clarke Courier for 1925 names The Sign of the Motor Car and the Battletown Inn as separate establishments on one page (4 June), and reports the Shenandoah Valley Hotel and Inn Association meeting at the Battletown Inn as guests of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Pulliam (8 October).
What the source supports
That in 1925 the two names belonged to two places, and that a couple named Pulliam hosted at the Battletown Inn, as far as OCR can show.
Uncertainty
OCR text normalised by the research package; the page images could not be opened (loc.gov script challenge on 10 September 2026). Nothing is quoted. Hosting a meeting shows an operating role, not ownership. Other 1925 notices in the package (a card party, a lodge social, a resident's death at the inn) are held until a page image is read.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The 4 June 1925 page, by OCR.
Clarke Courier, 1925, selected issues (Library of Congress, Chronicling America OCR)
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1925 (publication)
Locator: Issue of 4 June 1925, page 4 (https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85025371/1925-06-04/ed-1/?sp=4): a social column naming a guest at The Sign of the Motor Car and, separately, guests of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Pulliam at the Battletown Inn. OCR text only; page image not seen.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-1925. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The 8 October 1925 report, by OCR.
Clarke Courier, 1925, selected issues (Library of Congress, Chronicling America OCR)
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1925 (publication)
Locator: Issue of 8 October 1925, page 1 (https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85025371/1925-10-08/ed-1/?sp=1): a report that the Shenandoah Valley Hotel and Inn Association met on the Tuesday at the Battletown Inn as guests of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Pulliam. OCR text only; page image not seen.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-1925. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Motor cars at 102 West Main
Meanwhile the Stribling house had become a business of its own. In 1919, the 2015 account says, the Elder family bought it and opened The Sign of the Motor Car Inn, listed in the 1920 Automobile Blue Book as a garage and service station as well as an inn; a 1925 newspaper page, by OCR, names it and the Battletown Inn as two different places. It lasted, the article says, until the Battletown Inn's proprietors bought the house in 1952 and brought their name with them.
Source note: Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly, 2015, and one more
The feature reports that in 1919 the Elder family bought the building and opened "The Sign of the Motor Car Inn", listed in the 1920 Automobile Blue Book as a garage and service station as well as an inn, and that it stayed in business until the Battletown Inn took it over in the early 1950s.
What the source supports
A separate, named business at 102 W. Main between the house's domestic phase and the Battletown Inn.
Uncertainty
The Blue Book was not inspected. The takeover date is given loosely ("early 1950s") in this paragraph and as 1952 elsewhere in the same article.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The 1919 opening, the Blue Book listing and the takeover.
Wanted: The Battletown Inn
Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly · 2015-06-17 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on the Sign of the Motor Car Inn
Relevant passageIn 1919 ... the Elder family bought it and opened ... "The Sign of the Motor Car Inn." ... listed in the 1920 version of the Automobile Blue Book, Volume 3, as a garage and service station as well as an inn. ... it remained in business until the Battletown Inn took it over in the early 1950s
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: contextualizes. OCR of a 1925 newspaper page treats The Sign of the Motor Car and the Battletown Inn as two establishments.
Clarke Courier, 1925, selected issues (Library of Congress, Chronicling America OCR)
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1925 (publication)
Locator: Issue of 4 June 1925, page 4 (https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85025371/1925-06-04/ed-1/?sp=4): a social column naming a guest at The Sign of the Motor Car and, separately, guests of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Pulliam at the Battletown Inn. OCR text only; page image not seen.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-1925. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The kitchen can whip up some mean fried green tomatoes, and the shrimp and grits is considered a restaurant highlight. The Gray Ghost meanwhile, offers something that's hard to find in Berryville: a real, full-service bar. ... The Battletown Inn is located at 102, W. Main Street in Berryville.
Dinners, Rotary nights and a tavern upstairs
At 102 West Main the Battletown Inn was a restaurant with rooms. The Rotary Club of Clarke County held its Charter Night there on October 10, 1998, twenty-six members strong, and made it a meeting place. A 2012 tourism page counted it among the town's lodgings; a 2013 listing promised Southern cuisine on the patio, in the dining room or the tavern, with music on Thursdays and Saturdays. That year Clarke Monthly visited the second-floor Gray Ghost Tavern and its full bar, and heard from James Lynch, co-owner of the establishment with Ming Chan since 2006, about a patio built, rooms refreshed and a kitchen re-equipped without touching the structure.
Source note: Rotary Club of Clarke County
The Rotary Club of Clarke County's history says its Charter Night, with 26 members, was held at the Battletown Inn on 10 October 1998, and that Joseph Kerr secured the inn as the club's meeting place.
What the source supports
The inn at 102 W. Main in use as a civic meeting place at the end of the 1990s.
Uncertainty
The club's own account; it names neither the inn's owner nor its operator.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The Charter Night sentence and the meeting-place sentence.
History (Rotary Club of Clarke County)
Rotary Club of Clarke County
Locator: Section "Clarke County, Virginia"
Relevant passageThe Club's Charter Night, with 26 members, was held at the Battletown Inn on October 10, 1998. ... secured the Battletown Inn as a meeting place
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: rotary-clarke-self. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Berryville Main Street, 2012, and one more
A Main Street tourism page captured 9 May 2012 presented the Battletown Inn as lodging, and a Main Street directory captured 22 July 2013 advertised Southern cuisine, dining on the patio, in the dining room or the tavern, and entertainment on Thursday and Saturday evenings.
What the source supports
What the inn offered, as advertised at two dated captures.
Uncertainty
Promotional copy at capture dates. The 2013 listing's claim that the building was "constructed in 1809 by Benjamin Berry" is not carried: DHR says ca. 1810 and names no builder.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The 2012 lodging reference.
Dining in Berryville Virginia, Berryville Main Street portal (captured 9 May 2012)
Berryville Main Street · 2012-05-09 (publication)
Locator: Dining introduction
Relevant passageFor visitors staying at the Lost Dog B&B or the Battletown Inn, you are just a few minutes walk to any of these restuarants.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: berryville-main-street-listings. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The 2013 listing.
Sit Down Restaurants, Berryville Main Street (captured 22 July 2013)
Berryville Main Street · 2013-07-22 (publication)
Locator: Battletown Inn listing
Relevant passageSouthern cuisine with a modern edge. Dining on the patio, in our dining room, or the tavern. ... The Inn offers entertainment on Thursday and Saturday evenings.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: berryville-main-street-listings. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Ethan Vaughn, Clarke Monthly, 2013
A 2013 Clarke Monthly feature names James Lynch and Ming Chan as co-owners of the establishment since 2006, reports renovations (a patio, refreshed rooms and bathrooms, new kitchen equipment, no major structural change), and describes the second-floor Gray Ghost Tavern with a full-service bar, dishes such as fried green tomatoes and shrimp and grits, and live music, at 102 W. Main Street.
What the source supports
The inn as a working restaurant, tavern and lodging in 2013, and who said they ran it.
Uncertainty
"Co-owner of the establishment" is the article's phrase and does not establish title to the real estate. The article's "built in 1809" and "restaurant off and on for more than two centuries" are not carried.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The ownership statement and the renovations.
Battletown Inn's Gray Ghost Tavern
Ethan Vaughn, Clarke Monthly · 2013-04-16 (publication)
Locator: Opening paragraphs
Relevant passageJames Lynch, who, along with Ming Chan, has been a co-owner of the establishment since 2006. ... "We built a patio so people could dine outside, and we renovated all the rooms in the inn and added new equipment in kitchen. We didn't change a lot of structural aspects, though."
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The tavern, the dishes and the address.
Battletown Inn's Gray Ghost Tavern
Ethan Vaughn, Clarke Monthly · 2013-04-16 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on the tavern and the kitchen
Relevant passageThe kitchen can whip up some mean fried green tomatoes, and the shrimp and grits is considered a restaurant highlight. The Gray Ghost meanwhile, offers something that's hard to find in Berryville: a real, full-service bar. ... The Battletown Inn is located at 102, W. Main Street in Berryville.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
A locked door
By June 2015 the door was locked, with a sign that promised a reopening that had not come. The writer who found it described dining rooms, a lounge, the upstairs bar with its private rooms, and a separate building of twelve guest rooms, nine finished; she named the Bernstein Family Foundation as the owner, painting and repairing and looking for a buyer. When the last dinner was served, and what came after, no source inspected here says.
Source note: Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly, 2015
By 17 June 2015 Clarke Monthly reported the inn's door locked, with a sign promising a reopening that had not occurred; it described a restaurant with several dining areas, an upstairs bar and private rooms, and a separate building of twelve guest rooms with private baths, nine finished, and named the Bernstein Family Foundation as the owner, making repairs and offering the property for sale.
What the source supports
The closure as reported in June 2015, the property's layout, and its reported owner at that date.
Uncertainty
The final day of service is not stated anywhere inspected. No later reopening, successor business or present use has been verified; "currently" means 17 June 2015.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The locked door, the guest-room building and the owner.
Wanted: The Battletown Inn
Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly · 2015-06-17 (publication)
Locator: Opening paragraph and the paragraph on the property in 2015
Relevant passagefound it locked, with a sign that said it would reopen soon. But thus far, that has not occurred. ... a separate building with 12 guest rooms with private baths, nine of which are finished. ... currently owned by the Bernstein Family Foundation
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
What this story does not say
It does not date the inn to the construction of the house: the survey dates a residence, and the 1809 statements in later copy are uncited. It does not make "Lighthouse" a name for 102 West Main, resolve whether the earlier inn was at 5 or 9-13 West Main or at Main and Church, verify the hospital tradition, settle who held title in any year, or give a closing date. The old tavern and the Daniel Morgan story are a retelling, told in the Battletown story next door.
About the evidenceWhat the evidence says
Building documented; name transfer reported; closure reported; earlier site unresolved.
The 1987 nomination documents the Sarah Stribling House, its ca. 1810 date, original residential use and 1987 commercial use. A 2015 feature reports the earlier inn at another site and the 1952 move of the name, and reports the closure; the Rotary Club and dated captures document uses in between. OCR of 1925 newspapers supports two separate inns that year but has not been checked against page images. The earlier site's address is given three ways by the sources and is left that way.
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The 1987 Berryville Historic District nomination inventories 102 W. Main Street as the Sarah Stribling House (historic name) and Battletown Inn (present name), a Federal building of ca. 1810 whose original use was residential and whose use in 1987 was commercial, with a one-storey west wing and two-storey rear wings, then undergoing exterior restoration.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe 1987 Berryville Historic District nomination inventories 102 W. Main Street as the Sarah Stribling House (historic name) and Battletown Inn (present name), a Federal building of ca. 1810 whose original use was residential and whose use in 1987 was commercial, with a one-storey west wing and two-storey rear wings, then undergoing exterior restoration.
What the source supports
The surviving building's survey date, original use, later commercial use and 1987 condition, from the nomination inventory.
Uncertainty
"Ca. 1810" is an architectural attribution, not a documented construction year; no deed, tax record or datestone was inspected. The nomination does not name a builder.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The inventory entry's names, uses and date.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 48, W. Main Street inventory, 102
Relevant passageSarah Stribling House-historic name. Battletown Inn-present name. Commercial-present use. Residential-original use. Federal. ca. 1810.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The wings and the 1987 restoration.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 48, W. Main Street inventory, 102, continued
Relevant passagestone foundation, two front entrances, interior end chimneys, 9 over 6 and 6 over 6 sash windows, 3-light transom over both entrances; 1-story west wing and 2-story rear wings; one of the oldest buildings in town currently undergoing exterior restoration
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
A 2015 Clarke Monthly feature says the Battletown Inn "we have known" began in what was then the Virginia Hotel at the southeast corner of Main and Church streets, and that the name moved to 102 W. Main when the earlier inn's proprietors bought that property in 1952.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsA 2015 Clarke Monthly feature says the Battletown Inn "we have known" began in what was then the Virginia Hotel at the southeast corner of Main and Church streets, and that the name moved to 102 W. Main when the earlier inn's proprietors bought that property in 1952.
What the source supports
The reported origin of the later inn at another site and the reported 1952 move of the name to the Sarah Stribling House.
Uncertainty
A local retrospective naming no proprietors and citing no deed. Its "southeast corner of Main and Church" is not reconciled here with the nomination's 5 W. Main or 9-13 W. Main.
Source
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The Virginia Hotel origin and the 1952 transfer.
Wanted: The Battletown Inn
Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly · 2015-06-17 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on the earlier inn and the name transfer
Relevant passageThe Battletown Inn we have known actually started a couple of blocks down in what was then the Virginia Hotel, on the southeast corner of Main and Church streets. ... The name moved over to the current location when it was bought by the erstwhile Battletown Inn proprietors in 1952.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
By 17 June 2015 Clarke Monthly reported the inn's door locked, with a sign promising a reopening that had not occurred; it described a restaurant with several dining areas, an upstairs bar and private rooms, and a separate building of twelve guest rooms with private baths, nine finished, and named the Bernstein Family Foundation as the owner, making repairs and offering the property for sale.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsBy 17 June 2015 Clarke Monthly reported the inn's door locked, with a sign promising a reopening that had not occurred; it described a restaurant with several dining areas, an upstairs bar and private rooms, and a separate building of twelve guest rooms with private baths, nine finished, and named the Bernstein Family Foundation as the owner, making repairs and offering the property for sale.
What the source supports
The closure as reported in June 2015, the property's layout, and its reported owner at that date.
Uncertainty
The final day of service is not stated anywhere inspected. No later reopening, successor business or present use has been verified; "currently" means 17 June 2015.
Source
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The locked door, the guest-room building and the owner.
Wanted: The Battletown Inn
Wendy Gooditis, Clarke Monthly · 2015-06-17 (publication)
Locator: Opening paragraph and the paragraph on the property in 2015
Relevant passagefound it locked, with a sign that said it would reopen soon. But thus far, that has not occurred. ... a separate building with 12 guest rooms with private baths, nine of which are finished. ... currently owned by the Bernstein Family Foundation
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-battletown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Each statement above is assessed on its own evidence. Nothing here is averaged, scored or voted on, and a well-attributed account can be documented while what it describes stays unconfirmed.
Who were the proprietors who moved the name in 1952, and what did the deed and the town license say?
Know more about this story, or see something to correct? Help fill a gap. It stays private until it is reviewed.
Remember this place or someone in this story? Share a memory, even if you do not know the date. It stays private until it is reviewed.
Go deeper: every source under this story Follow another threadWhy Battletown?
The name behind the inn, and the tavern brawl that a 1914 history made famous.