~~~~~
The history of Dorothys’ Inn / The Narrow Passage Inn has some holes in it at this point, however, I will update it , as I fill in the holes! It has taken me only 20 years to do this and to begin returning her to better days. This kid works at break-neck speed!!!
On November 14, 1904, John Sweeney gave said parcel, that the former inn sits on to his son Hugh, and sons’ wife Margaret. Sometime in the next decade or so, they hired a stone-mason named George Patton, who along with his son built this “ rubble - style “ structure, sometime after WWI. I am told they built two other structures in Shenandoah Valley very similar to this style. They also built the wall and main house at The Edinburg Orchards. The Sweeney's designed and constructed a Tavern and called it The Narrow Passage Roadhouse, to accommadate the flourishing tourist trade of the early 1920's. The Sweeneys’ ran a tearoom and colonial inn there , until they sold it to Claude L. Layman, of Harrisonburg, Va. on April 8, 1927. Mr. Layman was the illegitimate great grandfather of former President William Jefferson Clinton……I just threw that in just to see if you were still paying attention. Claude ran a “BUSINESS “ here until bankruptcy. During this period of his ownership is when it gets interesting, very interesting!!!!!
Let me first fast forward this to 1987. One of the partners from the Chapmans Landing Ltd Partnership, from whom I purchased this property from, Tom Rall told me about the past reputation of the building I had bought. Tom Rall is the manager of the flea market at The Eastern Market, www.easternmarket.com , on Capitol Hill. He also continued running an antique business out of my building after I bought it and stayed on for several years. He was an auctioneer at The Eastern Market as well.
He told me at that time it was a roadhouse, and pointed out the 8 x 8 rooms that still existed, and signs of many more that had been removed to make the lounge in the 1960’s. This was once one of the first B and B ‘s in the Valley during Prohibition.. Err….. a bottle and a broad…. Not bed and breakfast! The swivel peephole gadget is still on the door that leads upstairs.
My first hand experience concerning the questionable /interesting past of the building came sometime in the summer of the following year , 1988. I was on the second floor when Metta came up to announce that some older gentleman was downstairs and wanted to ask me something. I greeted him in the old lobby . He said that his wife was in the car and he wanted to know if he could come upstairs. I granted him his wish. I followed this 80 – something fellow and when he went to the far northeast corner of the room, the side where the room partitions had been removed, and it was part of a much larger room now, I went to where I was repairing some drywall. Some five minutes went by , and when I looked up he was standing by me. He shyly nodded his head in the direction he had just left , and announced that was the room he had lost his pureness in. He was just a lad of 16 and came to this roadhouse just for that purpose. He thanked me and said he must get back to his wife. I was glad to be part of that moment, so glad and consumed with its’ meaning to this old boy, that I never asked him any questions. Did his friends come here, what was the name of this establishment, how much ?……..nothing!
Prohibition lasted from 1920 with the 18th admendment until the 21st admendment repealed it on December 5th 1933. This was the Roaring Twenties, an era in which the U.S. Constitution outlawed the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. Speakeasies, blind tigers, or blind pigs as they were commonly called, flourished throughout the US during this era. This blind pig also offered women, which was also popular.
I guess ole Claude had a hard time going legit, going bankrupt just two short years after liquor was made legal! So on November 30, 1935 Claude Layman filed bankruptcy.
Raymond and Leah Dorothy Satchel purchased the building on September 23, 1940 and ran Dorothys Inn, in honor of Mrs. Satchel, until September 27, 1969, when it was purchased by Leo Bernstein , t/a Wayside Inn Since 1797 Inc. A man named Joseph Renggli ran a restaurant and inn here called The Narrow Passage Inn , until the Health Department came and busted up the terra cotta drain tile, that ran the sewerage directly from the buildings to the river. You can still see the broken drain tile and existing tile today from that incident in May of 1974. Next it was bought by Chapman’s Landing Ltd. Partnership, the Anderson brothers and Tom Rall who collectively ran an antique business and bookstore from June 11, 1984 until I came along October 23, 1986. Tom continued to rent back from me for a few years and then went fully into The Eastern Market, where he can be found today. I have had several other antique and used furniture businesses , as well as a country store, a civil war shop and a church.
I just recently received permission from the town of Woodstock Va., to put in a state of the art discharge package sewer treatment plant. I also have gotten approval from DEQ which is the state level EPA. The ground is carst or limestone , without any soil to absorb septic effluent. The building sits high atop a rocky cliff about 100 feet from my roof line to the shallow depths of the North Fork of the Shenandoah river at a section referred to as the Narrow Passage . It is just past the last leg of the seventh bend of The Seven Bends , between the towns of Woodstock and Edinburg. Follow this river to the north and eventually her waters empty into the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
On Wednesday, August 15,2007, I met with VDOT, to discuss my engineers report ,with the solution to resolve the sight distance problem. It is necessary for them to give me permission to remove some 300 cubic yards of rock on their right of way . This week we received VDOT approval for the road construction in order to get sight distance .
I have now received all the approvals necessary to begin construction.
Sometime between September 4,2008 to September 15, 2008 I will meet with Planning and Zoning with my engineer to discuss the site plan, and from this we will begin design, bidding and construction. I am currently waiting for the State Health Department to give my the approval to begin my well treatment system...
I am beginning the renovation of the taproom, a small natural stone walled room which came with the name, The Fitzgerald Lounge. I will keep the name the same, adding a copper ceiling ,gas lamps and Frank Lloyd Wright designed leaded-glass windows.I have ordered everything and contracted the work to be started by October 25th,2008.
Not to be confused with The Inn at Narrow Passage, my next door neighbor, which is a very beautiful Bed and Breakfast, and which has a much more significant history than Dorothy's. We are both located on Route 11, also known as The Old Valley Pike, and during the last couple of hundred years,was called The Great Wagon Road. Built around 1740, this log structure was a colonial wagon stop and offered protection from the local Indians, where by the way the name Shenandoah comes from..."Daughter of the Stars . General Stonewall Jackson had his headquarters here for a while during the Valley Campaign of the Civil War.
Speaking of Indians , there is a large field , down the road apiece, that was the site of the last Indian raid/attack in the Valley. One of the direct decendants of this hostile attack has contacted me with information about this fight.This is what she writes ~~~~~
Valley History and my lineage to the Narrow Passage Indian Massacre
This is a link to the group I'm a member of in the valley. My 8th great-grand mother (the one that fought off the Indians with an axe at Narrow passage after they killed her husband, Mathias Sheetz) is a descendant of the Charles line,as am I obviously. Several books have been published listing thousands of descendants from the original ancestors,who arrived on the Ship Philadelphia around the year George Washington was born.
(Check out our blogs for more information and links)
http://www.hottelkeller.org/early_immigrants.php
I'm sure you have seen this historical marker on Rt 11 http://photos.historical-markers.org/main.php?g2_itemId=5975
The funny thing about it is that for years the header was "Last Indian Outrage". In these more politically correct times it reads "Last Indian-Settler Conflict". I'll mention all of that when I do the blog for your sister.
More links to check out
http://genealogyresources.org/Shenandoah.html
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.sheets/1326/mb.ash
I remember when the sign was changed.One day the sign might read........This casino sits on land given back to the Indians of this Valley, who received it for restitution because of settlers' discontent.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources put Dorothys' on a list of sites to be considered for historic considerations about three years ago. I have been told that the roof line is a German - Style stepped parapet. This point however has been disputed by one certain Irish folksinger , who claims of course, it is an Irish - Style!
Anyone wishing to contact me with any information or requests, can do so on Myspace. Please be patient for my reply. I will be updating this from time to time.
Anthony Edward Cipollina
Season's Greetings ! I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ! My very best wishes with two new titles on line on my site, "Voici comment" and "Sonnet". I hope you'll enjoy them !
~~~~~
The history of Dorothys’ Inn / The Narrow Passage Inn has some holes in it at this point, however, I will update it , as I fill in the holes! It has taken me only 20 years to do this and to begin returning her to better days. This kid works at break-neck speed!!!
On November 14, 1904, John Sweeney gave said parcel, that the former inn sits on to his son Hugh, and sons’ wife Margaret. Sometime in the next decade or so, they hired a stone-mason named George Patton, who along with his son built this “ rubble - style “ structure, sometime after WWI. I am told they built two other structures in Shenandoah Valley very similar to this style. They also built the wall and main house at The Edinburg Orchards. The Sweeney's designed and constructed a Tavern and called it The Narrow Passage Roadhouse, to accommadate the flourishing tourist trade of the early 1920's. The Sweeneys’ ran a tearoom and colonial inn there , until they sold it to Claude L. Layman, of Harrisonburg, Va. on April 8, 1927. Mr. Layman was the illegitimate great grandfather of former President William Jefferson Clinton……I just threw that in just to see if you were still paying attention. Claude ran a “BUSINESS “ here until bankruptcy. During this period of his ownership is when it gets interesting, very interesting!!!!!
Let me first fast forward this to 1987. One of the partners from the Chapmans Landing Ltd Partnership, from whom I purchased this property from, Tom Rall told me about the past reputation of the building I had bought. Tom Rall is the manager of the flea market at The Eastern Market, www.easternmarket.com , on Capitol Hill. He also continued running an antique business out of my building after I bought it and stayed on for several years. He was an auctioneer at The Eastern Market as well.
He told me at that time it was a roadhouse, and pointed out the 8 x 8 rooms that still existed, and signs of many more that had been removed to make the lounge in the 1960’s. This was once one of the first B and B ‘s in the Valley during Prohibition.. Err….. a bottle and a broad…. Not bed and breakfast! The swivel peephole gadget is still on the door that leads upstairs.
My first hand experience concerning the questionable /interesting past of the building came sometime in the summer of the following year , 1988. I was on the second floor when Metta came up to announce that some older gentleman was downstairs and wanted to ask me something. I greeted him in the old lobby . He said that his wife was in the car and he wanted to know if he could come upstairs. I granted him his wish. I followed this 80 – something fellow and when he went to the far northeast corner of the room, the side where the room partitions had been removed, and it was part of a much larger room now, I went to where I was repairing some drywall. Some five minutes went by , and when I looked up he was standing by me. He shyly nodded his head in the direction he had just left , and announced that was the room he had lost his pureness in. He was just a lad of 16 and came to this roadhouse just for that purpose. He thanked me and said he must get back to his wife. I was glad to be part of that moment, so glad and consumed with its’ meaning to this old boy, that I never asked him any questions. Did his friends come here, what was the name of this establishment, how much ?……..nothing!
Prohibition lasted from 1920 with the 18th admendment until the 21st admendment repealed it on December 5th 1933. This was the Roaring Twenties, an era in which the U.S. Constitution outlawed the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. Speakeasies, blind tigers, or blind pigs as they were commonly called, flourished throughout the US during this era. This blind pig also offered women, which was also popular.
I guess ole Claude had a hard time going legit, going bankrupt just two short years after liquor was made legal! So on November 30, 1935 Claude Layman filed bankruptcy.
Raymond and Leah Dorothy Satchel purchased the building on September 23, 1940 and ran Dorothys Inn, in honor of Mrs. Satchel, until September 27, 1969, when it was purchased by Leo Bernstein , t/a Wayside Inn Since 1797 Inc. A man named Joseph Renggli ran a restaurant and inn here called The Narrow Passage Inn , until the Health Department came and busted up the terra cotta drain tile, that ran the sewerage directly from the buildings to the river. You can still see the broken drain tile and existing tile today from that incident in May of 1974. Next it was bought by Chapman’s Landing Ltd. Partnership, the Anderson brothers and Tom Rall who collectively ran an antique business and bookstore from June 11, 1984 until I came along October 23, 1986. Tom continued to rent back from me for a few years and then went fully into The Eastern Market, where he can be found today. I have had several other antique and used furniture businesses , as well as a country store, a civil war shop and a church.
I just recently received permission from the town of Woodstock Va., to put in a state of the art discharge package sewer treatment plant. I also have gotten approval from DEQ which is the state level EPA. The ground is carst or limestone , without any soil to absorb septic effluent. The building sits high atop a rocky cliff about 100 feet from my roof line to the shallow depths of the North Fork of the Shenandoah river at a section referred to as the Narrow Passage . It is just past the last leg of the seventh bend of The Seven Bends , between the towns of Woodstock and Edinburg. Follow this river to the north and eventually her waters empty into the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
On Wednesday, August 15,2007, I met with VDOT, to discuss my engineers report ,with the solution to resolve the sight distance problem. It is necessary for them to give me permission to remove some 300 cubic yards of rock on their right of way . This week we received VDOT approval for the road construction in order to get sight distance .
I have now received all the approvals necessary to begin construction.
Sometime between September 4,2008 to September 15, 2008 I will meet with Planning and Zoning with my engineer to discuss the site plan, and from this we will begin design, bidding and construction. I am currently waiting for the State Health Department to give my the approval to begin my well treatment system...
I am beginning the renovation of the taproom, a small natural stone walled room which came with the name, The Fitzgerald Lounge. I will keep the name the same, adding a copper ceiling ,gas lamps and Frank Lloyd Wright designed leaded-glass windows.I have ordered everything and contracted the work to be started by October 25th,2008.
Not to be confused with The Inn at Narrow Passage, my next door neighbor, which is a very beautiful Bed and Breakfast, and which has a much more significant history than Dorothy's. We are both located on Route 11, also known as The Old Valley Pike, and during the last couple of hundred years,was called The Great Wagon Road. Built around 1740, this log structure was a colonial wagon stop and offered protection from the local Indians, where by the way the name Shenandoah comes from..."Daughter of the Stars . General Stonewall Jackson had his headquarters here for a while during the Valley Campaign of the Civil War.
Speaking of Indians , there is a large field , down the road apiece, that was the site of the last Indian raid/attack in the Valley. One of the direct decendants of this hostile attack has contacted me with information about this fight.This is what she writes ~~~~~
Valley History and my lineage to the Narrow Passage Indian Massacre
This is a link to the group I'm a member of in the valley. My 8th great-grand mother (the one that fought off the Indians with an axe at Narrow passage after they killed her husband, Mathias Sheetz) is a descendant of the Charles line,as am I obviously. Several books have been published listing thousands of descendants from the original ancestors,who arrived on the Ship Philadelphia around the year George Washington was born.
(Check out our blogs for more information and links)
http://www.hottelkeller.org/early_immigrants.php
I'm sure you have seen this historical marker on Rt 11 http://photos.historical-markers.org/main.php?g2_itemId=5975
The funny thing about it is that for years the header was "Last Indian Outrage". In these more politically correct times it reads "Last Indian-Settler Conflict". I'll mention all of that when I do the blog for your sister.
More links to check out
http://genealogyresources.org/Shenandoah.html
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.sheets/1326/mb.ash
I remember when the sign was changed.One day the sign might read........This casino sits on land given back to the Indians of this Valley, who received it for restitution because of settlers' discontent.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources put Dorothys' on a list of sites to be considered for historic considerations about three years ago. I have been told that the roof line is a German - Style stepped parapet. This point however has been disputed by one certain Irish folksinger , who claims of course, it is an Irish - Style!
Anyone wishing to contact me with any information or requests, can do so on Myspace. Please be patient for my reply. I will be updating this from time to time.
Anthony Edward Cipollina
