Nu Wray Inn

{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Nu-Wray Inn | nrhp_type = | image = Nu-Wray Inn.jpg | caption = | location = Off US 19E, Burnsville, North Carolina | coordinates = {{coord|35|54|59|N|82|17|58|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = North Carolina#USA | built = 1833 | architect = | architecture = Colonial Revival | added = April 15, 1982 | website = [https://www.nuwray.com www.nuwray.com] | area = {{convert|0.7|acre}} | refnum = 82003535 <ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2009a}}</ref> }} The '''Nu Wray Inn''' is an historic hotel located at Burnsville, Yancey County, North Carolina. It was built in 1833 at the time Yancey County was formed and a year before Burnsville was established. It was originally built of logs and had eight bedrooms and a dining room and kitchen.<ref>{{cite book|last=Haas|first=Irvin|title=America's historic inns & taverns|year=1985|publisher=Hippocrene Books|isbn=978-0-87052-025-9|page=134}}</ref> It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.<ref name="nris"/><ref name = nrhpinv>{{Cite web | author =Jim Sumner and Michael Southern| title =Nu Wray Inn | work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date = January 1981| url = https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/YC0002.pdf | publisher = North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office | accessdate = 2015-07-01}}</ref> Thomas Wolfe spent the night there in 1929 when he was a witness at a murder trial in Burnsville.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mauldin|first=Joanne Marshall|title=Thomas Wolfe: when do the atrocities begin?|year=2007|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|isbn=978-1-57233-494-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/thomaswolfewhend00maul/page/55 55]|url=https://archive.org/details/thomaswolfewhend00maul/page/55}}</ref> Elvis Presley and William Sidney Porter (O. Henry) were also guests.<ref name="InsidersGuide">{{cite book|last=Richards|first=Constance E.|title=Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Mountains|year=2004|edition=7th|publisher=Insiders Guide|isbn=978-0-7627-3004-9|author2=Kenneth L. Richards|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780762730049/page/99 99]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780762730049/page/99}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Brewer|first=Carson|title=Just over the next ridge: a traveler's guide to little-known and out-of-the-way places in southern Appalachia|year=1989|edition=New|publisher=Knoxville News-Sentinel|isbn=978-0-9615656-4-0|page=140}}</ref>

It was owned by the same family for a century until the death of Wray family patriarch Rush Wray.<ref name="InsidersGuide"/>

Writing about the Inn in 1941 the journalist Jonathan W. Daniels said: <blockquote>Everything is on the table in the Nu-Wray Hotel at Burnsville. Nobody waits to give an order. They bring it in, three or four kinds of meat, all the vegetables of the whole mountain countryside. There are dishes of homemade jellies and preserves. The country ham is excellent. The stout tables do not groan but the stuffed guest rising sometimes does. It is country plenty, country cooked and country served, but in proof that the persisting homesickness for country eating is not entirely based on legend.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eubanks|first=Georgann|title=Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains: A Guidebook|orig-date=2009|year=2010|publisher=ReadHowYouWant & University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-4587-1603-3|pages=63–65}}</ref></blockquote>

It was purchased by new owners in 2021, and has been under renovation since then.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thelaurelofasheville.com/lifestyle/history-new-owners-a-new-future-for-burnsvilles-nuwray-inn/|title=History: New Owners, a New Future for Burnsville's NuWray Inn|last=Stepp|first=Lauren|date=2021|access-date=November 26, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2024/08/07/the-historic-nuwray-hotel-reopens-awarded-50k-grant-for-restorations/74688712007/|title=Historic Western North Carolina restaurant receives $50k grant for preservation, upgrades|last=Kennell|first=Tiana|publisher=The Asheville Citizen-Times|date=August 7, 2024|access-date=November 26, 2024}}</ref> It acted as an important hub for recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. It housed 16 members of the New York Swift Water Rescue team before and after the storm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ourlocalcommunityonline.com/2024/10/29/nu-wray-hotel-an-anniversary-well-remember/|title=Nu Wray Hotel-An Anniversary We'll Remember|access-date=November 26, 2024|publisher=Our Local Community Online}}</ref> They also worked with World Central Kitchen and fed hundreds of people every day during the recovery.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kowles|first=Naomi|url=https://www.wbtv.com/2024/10/04/tears-trauma-togetherness-after-helenes-deadly-onslaught-yancey-county/|title=Tears, trauma and togetherness after Helene's deadly onslaught in Yancey County|date=October 3, 2024|publisher=WBTV|access-date=November 26, 2024}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.nuwray.com/ Official website] *[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6H9PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wAQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3905,1617469&dq=nu-wray-inn+built&hl=en Pavement Plato Finds Food at Boarding House Superb]

Category:Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Category:Colonial Revival architecture in North Carolina Category:Buildings and structures in Yancey County, North Carolina Category:Hotel buildings completed in 1833 Category:National Register of Historic Places in Yancey County, North Carolina Category:1833 establishments in North Carolina