About The Nancy Shepherd House Inn Bed and Breakfast, Winchester, VA

HISTORY OF THE NANCY SHEPHERD HOUSE INN BED & BREAKFAST

The Nancy Shepherd House Inn was built as a dwelling in the 1700s on the south end of Winchester's main street, lot 213 on South Loudoun Street. So far, our earliest findings of its existence are from insurance policies from 1792, but it was certainly built much earlier. In 1792 the building was listed as a one-story wooden dwelling.

It is constructed of log and was originally one and a half stories high with two rooms and a large central chimney. In 1798, the house was bought by Robert Cochran who considerably enlarged and embellished it for the purpose of an ordinary or tavern. He also added the fine moldings and a grand three-story staircase.

In 1814, the inn, now enlarged and greatly improved, was passed on by Robert Cochran to his daughter, Mary (then Mary Schenck), for $500. She, her husbands, and her children ran the inn until it was sold to O. M. Brown for $1,500 in 1840, a considerable amount of money at the time, indicating that the business was quite successful.

The property remained a thriving tavern until the war, but since Winchester repeatedly changed hands between union and confederate forces, the local economy was crushed and so was the tavern business. During the war, the building was used as a rooming house for occupying soldiers of both sides, and also as a hospital for the injured from surrounding battles. By the end of the war the property was listed in city records as a "two story wooden tenement". After its glorious pre-war days as an inn, the building began a slow process of deterioration as it changed owners over the years. From the 1860s until we acquired it, Robert Cochran’s old tavern remained a rooming house or multi-unit apartment building. To this day, it has not been a single family dwelling since 1798!

The property was bought at public auction on the Winchester courthouse steps in early 1987 by Nancy Shepherd McLaughlin who realized that most of the building’s original fabric still lay intact under aluminum siding, dropped ceilings, drywall, and plywood & carpet floors. She decided that its preservation was critical and that it was too important to allow it to continue to deteriorate. Her mission was to bring the tavern back to life as a historic B&B inn, just as it had originally been during it grandest days between 1798-1861.

Nancy Shepherd McLaughlin (1927-1996) put her son David in charge of the restoration. David has had a life-long interest in the preservation of America's early buildings. As the steward of the Nancy Shepherd House Inn, he has worked non-stop for twenty years making the old tavern suitable for a true historic bed & breakfast inn, undoing alterations and unsympathetic modernizations. He has brought it back to its early 19th century state, preserving everything that is original from the Robert Cochran period, and has done so without removing its essence of "old."

THE NANCY SHEPHERD HOUSE INN NOW

The restoration objective was to make it appear as if the inn has never been restored at all. Except for the modern necessities of electricity and running water, everything inside and outside the main structure is exactly as it was during its finest days as a tavern. As you walk from room to room, the only perceivable difference between now and 1815 is that there is now modern lighting throughout, with dimmer switches in every room. Original tavern artifacts found on-site such as clay pipe fragments, bottles, and drinkware have been saved and are on display. Civil War artifacts from its time of use as a hospital and rooming house for soldiers, found on-site, are also on display.

Inside the Nancy Shepherd House Inn, all woodwork is properly restored, the floorboards remain unvarnished the walls still have most of the original plaster, and the interior layout is

This photo shows the most beautiful federal-period facade woodwork in the Shenandoah Valley. There is no other example like this in Virginia. Except for the shutters, all woodwork is original, including fenestration, siding, cornice detail, and rope motif on the pediment. It was all done under the ownership of Robert Cochran in about 1810. In 1987, all but the portico were covered by aluminum siding and storm windows. We were amazed when we found what lay beneath.The rope motif is repeated inside the house.

exactly as it was 200 years ago. Even most of the original siding and window glass has been saved. And after extensive research and conservation efforts, the entire house has been painted with original paint colors inside and out, or retains its original paint. Where original iron hardware was missing, we used correct hand-forged iron replacements by Ball & Ball, and keyed door locks by Bow House. Some replacement ironwork, such as the tavern sign-straps, were made by David's personal blacksmith and carpenter, Larry Buracker.

The kitchen, which was added onto the back of the inn late in the 1870s, has been functionally modernized but still uses furniture and shelves instead of built-in cabinets and counters. There is now a six burner natural gas cook-range by Heartland with a six cubic foot convection oven. An early copper sink remains in place and works perfectly!

Two full bathrooms have also been added in places where they do not compromise the original floor-plan of the building. One is behind the kitchen on the first floor and the other is opposite the bedroom on the third floor.

There are six fireplaces, now fitted with attractive vent-free natural gas logs. All the chimney flues have been restored and can be open or closed while the fireplaces are used. The house is also equipped with natural gas forced air heat and central air conditioning. All windows and shutters work perfectly.

The dining room accommodates up to fourteen people, and the main hallway and the kitchen both lead outside to a very large stone patio perfect for entertaining.

In the basement on the Nancy Shepherd House Inn is the old Tater Hill Tavern ale room where many of Winchester's most memorable historic events and document signings have occurred. There is also a laundry and half-bath in the basement.

The Nancy Shepherd House Inn is now a B&B, and is open once again as a real tavern museum in which guests can actually stay. Since it is right in the historic district of downtown Winchester, breakfast at the Nancy Shepherd House Inn is optional since it is an easy walk to many fine cafes and restaurants.

Consider a stay at the Nancy Shepherd House Inn Bed & Breakfast if a true historic Virginia Tavern experience sounds interesting to you. It really is an amazing old inn, unlike any other in the Shenandoah Valley.