National Historic Landmark -- Elizabeth, West Virginia -- Wirt County
Manlove Beauchamp built a two-story log building beside the Little Kanawha River in 1800. A hotel and tavern, its guests were trappers, salesmen, and country judges traveling the Staunton & Parkersburg Turnpike. The hotel was virtually abandoned for some time, but as oil production commenced upstream at Burning Springs, West Virginia, and steamboat travel increased, the hotel was expanded around its log core.
In 1870, Irish immigrant P. H. Dailey purchased the Beauchamp tavern and renamed it the Kanawha Hotel. The completion of a paved highway and the decline of river traffic marked the end of the hotel. In 1928, the property was sold as a private residence. It remains the oldest building in Wirt County.
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