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Meghann Evans/The Stokes News

The old Dodson Hotel in Walnut Cove has been condemned and could be torn down.

Meghann Evans/The Stokes News

Cracks are visible in a side wall of the old Dodson Hotel in Walnut Cove which has been condemned.

Submitted photo

The former Dodson Hotel in Walnut Cove boasted around 20 hotel rooms at one time.

The days may be numbered for a familiar landmark in downtown Walnut Cove. The old Dodson Hotel has been condemned and may have to be torn down. The owner, Marianne DeHart Northington, was notified around three weeks ago and given 60 days to make some crucial decisions.

At this time, yellow caution tape, put up by the Walnut Cove Public Works Department, surrounds the three-story structure at the corner of Second and Main. No one is allowed to go inside the taped perimeter, due to the hotel being deemed unsafe.

“This thing got started because a citizen called and complained about the hotel,” explained Byron Ellis, Walnut Cove town manager. “The fire marshal [Anthony Stewart] went up there and reported that he thought it was dangerous and declared it a nuisance.”

The next step was to have Andrew Smith, the Stokes County building inspector, check out the structure. He, too, declared it unsafe and placed signed notices on the door to inform the public of the condemned status of the hotel.

“Evidently it’s been leaking for a long, long time,” Smith noted, “because the roof has caved in to the basement.” He said that the exterior wall closest to Second Street is buckling due to the damage. “A strong thunderstorm might bring it down,” he conjectured.

Ellis stated that some of the Walnut Cove Town Commissioners thought it would be best to keep people away from the old hotel. Prior to the building being roped off, cars had been parking on the Second Street side where the wall is a hazard.

Ellis says that the owner has a few options: she could repair the hotel, have it demolished or file an appeal with the town regarding their determination of the structure being unsafe. “There could be a hearing before the building inspector,” he added.

If nothing is done by the owner, the Town of Walnut Cove could have the old hotel torn down now that it has been condemned, according to Ellis. “It’s way past being just an eyesore — it’s a hazard now,” he stated.

Ellis explained how the hole in the roof can be seen in the latest Stokes County GIS mappings taken a couple of years ago. The hole appears even bigger when viewed from the more recent Google Earth pictures.

“You could drop a school bus in it,” Ellis said.

The Dodson Hotel was built in 1912 by Wesley Greenville Dodson and served as one of three hotels in Walnut Cove during that era. It was advertised as a modern accommodation that boasted lights, a generator, heat, its own sewage system and baths. According to former Walnut Cove Mayor Jack Gentry, many of the tenants of the Dodson Hotel were schoolteachers, with room and board being about $5-6 per week.

The structure was one of the most impressive ones in town, with a corbelled cornice and round and segmental arched doors and windows. At one point, there was a two-tier wrap-around porch, but that has been removed.

On the north side of the building is a one-story projection that was used as a store. The actual hotel interior featured a lobby, parlor, dining room, kitchen and approximately 20 hotel rooms.

Comments

(2)

oldstuff

September 03, 2012

What a shame that the owner of this historic structure has no more respect for Walnut Cove that she allows her property to collapse. She, and others who grew up here, owe the town better than callous disregard.

Rharobed

September 04, 2012

This is a shaame that this has been allowed to happen. While I may not live in Walnut Cove, I have been in and around Walnut Cove most of my life. We could lay blame to the current owner, but the neglect started many years ago. As a child I remember seeing this building(not knowing what it had been) and thinking that it could be a nice place if someone would put someone would fix it up. Then as I grew up, I still thought it could be restored, if not into a hotel, then into either apartmnts or office space. One only has to look at Winston Salem to see how old buildings can be refurbished. This is a SHAME! We in Stokes Coujnty should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing our old buildings to fall in from rot and neglect. Even the old log tobacco barns are rapidly disappearing(How many of those do you see?) We, as citizens of Stokes Coujnty should offer our help to the owner(physical if not financial) help to the current owner, if she truely wants to save this building.