Time Passages

Time Passages. Spotsylvania Court House National Historic District. , Joseph Sanford, Sr. sold the tavern to Elijah Fisher in 1869 and left the area. A steady stream of owners followed: Jack Shelton (1872), Joseph Bittle (1887), A. B. Rawlings (1890), H. A. Carner (1897), Thomas B. Coleman (1906). A fire in 1909 burned the tavern's 23 rooms displacing seven guests. Embedded artillery shells, left over from the Battles for Spotsylvania Courthouse exploded, causing further damage, but also helping to extinguish the fire, AFter repairs were made to the building, Richard and Willie Waller purchased the building and continued to operate it as a hotel. They sold the property to John R. Alrich in 1936, however, the Wallers continued to live on the property until their respective deaths in 1943 and 1942. John Alrich then sold it to the Universal Land Development Cooperation. Universal then sold the property to its current owners, Courtland Gardens, the same year. It has functioned as a law office under numerous attorneys since that time., On August 11, 1983, the building was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places along with 25 adjacent properties, as part of the "Spotsylvania Courthouse National Historic District." The nomination was approved and entered on September 8, 1983., [Captions:] , The hotel (below) as it appeared in the 1940's. It is believed that during Prohibition, the tavern room was turned into a second dining area., Sanford's Hotel as it appeared in the 1880's. The hotel served as a branch of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute from 1887-1888., By the mid 1950's, pavement, lack of trees, highway signs and power poles affected the view of the historic structure., A mixture of Federal and homespun architecture, the main entrance originally faced south. The Spotswood Inn has functioned as a law office since 1972.