This is a country hostel of perfect proportions (just 25 rooms), run by the Hock family since 1928. It lies in a shady residential section of Lewisburg, a National Register town with a historic academy, stone church, and Confederate cemetery. Down the street from the inn are pleasant shops selling West Virginia quilts, ladies’ dresses, and antiques. You can see everything Lewisburg has to offer in an easy afternoon, leaving you lots of time to sit on the veranda at the General Lewis. Out front there’s a restored carriage, which used to rumble over the James River and Kanawha Turnpike (now Route 60), and in the back garden is owner Mary Hock Morgan’s large old dollhouse.
Mary’s parents started the General Lewis in the original house, built in the early 1800s; the architect who designed the West Virginia governor’s mansion in Charleston later supervised a 1920s addition to the building, whichblends flaw-lessly with the older section. The Hocks were great antiques collectors, and the inn is full of their prizes, including farming implements and a nickelodeon that still plays “The Man in the Moon Has His Eyes on You.” The front desk came from the Sweet Chalybeate Springs Hotel and was reputedly leaned on by Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. In fact, the only non-antiques you’ll come across are the chairs in the dining room.
Though the inn is ably managed by Nan Morgan, grand daughter of Randolph and Mary Hock, Mary Hock Morgan is usually around to show children where to find the checkers. She lived in the General Lewis until the age of 15 and is dedicated to keeping it retrogressive. The inn has some new fangled touches, such as central heat and air-conditioning with individual room controls. But Mary balks at refinishing the furniture; she wants guests to see where generations of hands have rubbed and polished the cannonball beds.
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