LISTED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

The original Hermitage was built in the early 1840s of bricks dug and fired on the premises by slave labor.  The first legal record (1841) described it as a red brick building "with necessary outbuildings".  The kitchen, with slave quarters above, was one of the outbuildings. The inn has been in continuous use as a hostelry since 1881.  It has been an integral part of the community since its first guests arrived by stagecoach from Keyser and Cumberland, Maryland; and later the inn's livery met the daily train from Cumberland. The stable was located in the rear, right-hand corner of the property. The Hermitage is older than the state of West Virginia (1863) and older than Grant County (1866).

Before the Civil War, The Hermitage was the home of Dr. Jacob Kenny Chambers.  During the war it was seized by officers of the Federal Troops, who occupied Petersburg and were stationed at Fort Mulligan. Ft. Mulligan was located (and the remains are still there) adjacent to the present Grant Memorial Hospital. 

In 1881, John and Mary Cunningham converted the house into the Cunningham Hotel and operated it into the 1890s.  They were followed by the Charles Godlove family.  The hostelry accommodated traveling salesmen, sportsmen and other visitors to the South Branch Valley. Rooms were not set up for individuals, but rather had almost wall-to-wall beds in some quarters. Keys were distributed, but any key would fit each and every door in the establishment.

Around the turn of the century, John Ed Taylor came to Petersburg to run the Riverside Tannery, located where the Pizza Hut now stands.  Finding the hotel too small to house his family of nine daughters, as well as businessmen who required lodging, he added extensively to the building.  He filled in the space between the original house and the rooms above it. Daughters of the Taylor Sisters (DOTS) continued to frequent the hotel into the 21st century. 

The inn became known as the Hermitage Hotel during the Taylor regime. It was 1904 when Dr. Hoy B. McCuskey arrived at the "Taylor House" by horse-drawn stage. During that visit, he and I. B. Wilson, using the cover of night, found a can of paint and a brush in an outbuilding. They reworded the old sign with what they thought was a more "high falootin'" name, The Hermitage, which is still retained.

During the First World War, the hotel was operated by G.P. Shaeffer.  This gentleman was responsible for additions to the first floor, adding the third floor, and installing the first central heating (steam radiators) and plumbing. At that point the indoor plumbing did not mean individual baths in each room. There was a full bath at the end of the hallway. Some rooms did have a sink. One room, Number 6, had a sink and a toilet. Even though it was only 8'X10', it was the most sought-after room. Today that room is used to house the restaurant's air conditioning system.

Mrs. Russell Quinn, ninth daughter of John Ed Taylor, operated the Hermitage for a few years, until it was taken over by her nephew, Donald J. Baker.

Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Cowherd bought the hotel from Mr. Baker in 1942.  Mr. Cowherd had brought his wife and young family here while he was working to rebuild the town bridge. They liked Petersburg so much that they decided to stay. They continued to make changes and additions to the inn while they owned it, including offering guests five-channel cable television in 1960 for the first time. In October 1965, a new and modern motor lodge was added. That space had originally served as the restaurant's garden. Several rooms in the original building were converted to apartments.  During the Cowherd's ownership, The Hermitage relinquished its dining facilities that had been in operation since 1881, to the West Virginia Book and Craft Shop in the early 1970s. The restaurant space was then used to promote West Virginia's finest handmade crafts, art work and books.

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Roby took over operation of the hotel and craft shop on October 1, 1980.  Mr. Roby was a native of Petersburg, but had moved away for a time before returning with his family to continue the legacy of The Hermitage. A pool was opened in 1981, and the construction of 12 units was added to the motor lodge in 1984.  Renovation has included several efficiencies in the original building that supplement the types of units available to Potomac Highlands' travelers.  The inn became all electric when baseboard heat replaced the boiler and steam radiators in November, 1985.  The very day that the electric was switched on, was the day that ground water from the Flood of '85 finished off the old boiler.  In the spring of 1994, the second of two buildings, originally used by salesmen to display their samples, was torn down.  Four additional motel rooms were constructed in its place.

          THE HERMITAGE INN RESTAURANT
                   Rich in history, rich in flavor and always casual 

When you enter the dining facilities, the brick wall in this room was originally an outside wall, with the bricks fired on the premises by slave labor. Pine paneling, milled nearby, lines the walls in this Pine Room.

What is now the Allegheny Room, and what is used as the bar was part of the original home.  As you look around the restaurant, you'll see that many interior doorways and window openings were originally on outside walls and were also smaller than today's standards require.  Taller folks may need to duck! Because rooms were added at different times and thresholds require folks to step up or down, you might hear someone say, "Watch your step!"

What is now the Taylor Room was added (early l900s) along with the room where the restrooms are now located and the second floor rooms above them. These additions closed the gap between the original home and the kitchen, which had been in a separate building. The present-day Pine Room was probably built around l920.

When The Hermitage was owned by the Cowherds, the restaurant included only the Taylor Room and the Pine Room. The right side of the inn was used as living quarters. Mr. Cowherd prepared the meals, and reported that cooking on the wood stove during that time was much more difficult. The cook needed to know how much wood and what kind of wood to add to the stove to gain the right amount of heat for preparing different foods. There were no built-in thermometers then! When cable TV came to town in 1960 and was installed in the old inn, the restaurant was able to secure FM music for dining.  

After owning the Hermitage for 10 years, Jim and Diane Roby reopened the dining facilities in 1990.  The kitchen (located in the same place as the original one and part of the building that was built by slave labor) was modernized, and the restrooms were installed within what had been a bedroom in the Cowherd and later the Roby family living quarters.  They added the Sunroom (built adjacent to the Pine Room) and the first central air conditioning system for the old inn.  In 1998, the Potomac Room, a 45' X 32' banquet facility was constructed.  In the middle of this space was originally an outbuilding that housed all of the hotel's laundry equipment.

Guests are and always have been welcomed by The Hermitage. The hotel continues to change with time, with invention, with need, with ownership, and with visitors.