LEWISBURG, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – Sparrow and Aaron Huffman- husband-and-wife renovating duo and owners of the Historic General Lewis Inn in downtown Lewisburg- continue to remodel and cultivate the space despite the ongoing global pandemic, seeing the opportunity for improvements as a silver lining to an otherwise dismal year for business.
Sparrow Huffman sat down with Lootpress, sharing the story of how she and her husband became the owners of such a historical and eclectic space.
Although they are both Pocahontas County natives, the Huffman’s found themselves settling down in the Lewisburg area several years ago.
Sparrow had opened Stardust Café in Lewisburg with her mother in 2005, and in 2009 she and Aaron married in the very inn they would come to own years later.
As Huffman told the story, which began with a chilly morning run in April of 2014, she smiled, remembering the day that changed her life forever.
“When we bought this, we were not looking for a project,” Huffman laughed. “I was out for a morning run…I came home, and I said, ‘I think the inn is for sale.’ He said, ‘No way!’ and I said, ‘Let’s just go look at it.’ And of course, we both just fell in love even more.”
The pair official bought the inn in August of 2014.
Huffman, who has a background in restaurants and coffee shops, said her husband’s career in contracting and historical renovations helped make the inn a perfect fit for their skillsets.
“He has the ability and wherewithal to understand the structural ability of the building and I come up with ideas and then he makes them happen,” she said, adding that she didn’t think maintaining the hotel would be possible if they had to hire a contractor or a designer rather than using their own talents.
The oldest part of the two-story inn dates back to the early 1830s. According to Huffman, it existed as a private home until 1928, when the Hock family built the rest of the inn going west.
The addition was designed by well-known architect, Walter Frederic Martens. Martens worked mainly in West Virginia and even designed the governor’s mansion in 1923.
While telling the inn’s story, Huffman shared that she believes Martens’ designs, which seem to be influenced by European architecture, were ahead of their time. One of these design choices is the dark wooden beams that run the length of the inn’s main sitting area. According to Huffman, exposed beams weren’t used in public or extravagant places until the lodge look became popular in the 1950s.
The building opened as an official inn in 1929 and passed through three generations of the Hock family before Huffman and her husband purchased it.
“It is fun to imagine that there is so much history,” Huffman said. “It is quite an honor for us to have this privilege to carry on the legacy that the Hock family began.”
Huffman shared that the Hock family was diligent in keeping as many original aspects to the 1834 portion of the building as possible and that that diligence is something she continues as she makes creative and decorative changes to the inn.
“We try to keep as many original parts as we can. It’s the original fireplace and mantel, but it’s gas now. We have the original beams and the original glass in the 1834 side of the building. The Hock family was good at keeping beautiful antiques. They wanted the rooms to look like they were from the 1800s and colonial, so as we began upgrading and changing, we tried to maintain as many of those pieces as possible.”
Huffman continued, explaining that she is always working to blend the hotel’s style between vintage and contemporary, from the paint colors to the smallest accents and everything in between.
Huffman, who always wants the hotel to have a classical vibe and “feel fresh,” says most of the furniture that exists in the hotel’s 24 rooms stays there in some form or is used in other parts of the inn. Regardless of where what piece of furniture is used, she always tries to make sure at least one of the hotel’s original antiques is placed in each of the renovated rooms.
To do this, and still incorporate modern and fresh pieces, Huffman says she scours the stores of downtown Lewisburg to find different elements that will make the space the perfect culmination of old and new.
“I go to as many stores as possible. I get things both vintage and modern, and I put all those things together in a room to create a style that I think is uniquely ours and is dedicated to our town,” Huffman said. “I see the bones of the hotel as my basis, and it is fun to see it that way. If I look at the hotel as being already so beautiful as it is and all I need to do is small things, then it becomes very simple.”
When guests step into The General Lewis Inn, whether for the first time of the one-hundredth time, Huffman wants them to feel as if they’ve come to a place where they’ve never been before.
“I want them to have that base of familiarity…but also appreciate the upgrades that we have done. I want it to be seamless and not a shock to the system, and I try to be very delicate with that.”
Huffman and her husband try to renovate one to two rooms per year and, of the inn’s 24 rooms, seven have been renovated in completion. While the inn was temporarily shut down due to COVID this spring, the Huffman’s took the opportunity to renovate the dining room, which is located in the oldest portion of the building. The renovation mainly included scraping of several layers of vintage wallpaper and fixing the diminishing façade of the building.
Two of the hotel’s rooms are currently being renovated, one of which will be upgraded to a king size room. These renovations are scheduled to be completed by spring of 2021.
“COVID absolutely rocked our world and, even coming into today, it has been hard to have our head above water to where we can see clearly. Renovating these rooms is our hope for the future. We can see the future, and we are excited about it.”
Although the last year has been challenging for The General Lewis Inn, it still snagged the number one spot in the Best Bed & Breakfast/Inn Category in West Virginia Living Magazine’s Best of West Virginia 2020 competition.
“We are honored that anyone even thought to nominate us in that category. We are really honored to have this project and to be able to invest in a building that is iconic for our state. It’s an important, beautiful old building that if it doesn’t have the kind of maintenance that we are able to give it, it just kind of falls into the ground, so we are really honored to be the caretakers of this place.”
While her focus in currently set on completing the renovations, Huffman says she would love to add different features to the hotel’s outdoor garden wedding venue and one day enclose the 1800s carriage that currently sits under a portico by the inn’s main entrance.
The General Lewis Inn is located at 1236 Washington Street, East in downtown Lewisburg. Visit generallewisinn.com for more information.