Welcome to the 1st stop on our Ghost Tour! You will first learn about the history of the Hotel and then you will hear from a previous owner about their resident ghost.
Hotel Strasburg - Originally a Hospital
Dr. Mackall R. Bruin who made house calls on horseback, riding the rough roads of the northern Shenandoah Valley originally built this building as a private hospital in 1902. When patients were able, they would visit him at his hospital on the corner of Queen and Holliday Streets. On the second floor, in the back hall, the Doctor's original shingle rests on a marble and metal washstand -- an artifact from his hospital. Among his papers in the hotel, archives is a copy of a nurse's diploma dated 1907, and a number of bills for various "professional services rendered." One bill dated 1901, charged a patient $4.00 for treatment of an unknown ailment. It's no wonder the innkeeper wasn't surprised when one guest confided, "I was born here."
Rising to the hallmark of Hospitality The conversion from hospital to hostelry took place in 1915. From then, the three-story Victorian catered not only to travelers but to residential guests like the teacher from Pennsylvania who taught in the elementary school. "When I lived here in the 1940s, I paid $35 a month," she said, "and that included two meals a day."
Hotel Strasburg: “Welcoming Spirit”
Whispers among the locals of Strasburg are quite often overheard of the haunted room at the Hotel Strasburg. The Hotel Strasburg was originally built in 1902 as a private hospital for a doctor M.R. Bruin. It became a hotel years later in 1915. When converted to a lodging facility the owners discovered several artifacts from the hotel’s past. Patient bills dated in the early 1900s, Dr. Bruin’s shingle, and even a nurse’s diploma dated 1907. The hotel has maintained its Victorian Age elegance and has welcomed visitors from afar throughout the decades. The hotel staff is welcoming and friendly, however, there has been one welcoming entity that has fascinated and in some cases spooked the hotel guests over the years. The previous owner, Mr. Gary Rutherford and his wife, Carol, received several reports from guests and hotel staff of an encounter with a spirit who lingers in one corner of the hotel. One female hotel guest came face to face with an apparition dressed in a white dress in room 210. As she observed in fascination the apparition disappeared walking through the walls. Another businessman assigned to room 310 for three nights (310 is the room above 210) woke up in the middle of the night to something shaking him. He informed the hotel staff that morning and went on with his day. The second night he felt something get into the bed and lie down next to him. When he felt next to him he could feel an indention in the mattress. The spirit was a little too close for comfort and the next morning he requested to be moved or he would seek out another place to stay for his final night in Strasburg. The resident ghost of the Hotel Strasburg doesn’t appear to be a threat to the staff and guest and despite town talk, she doesn’t remain in one room but lingers in a particular corner of the hotel. One must wonder was the white dress she wears a nurse’s dress or is a Victorian age dress? Could she have been an employee of Dr. Bruin or a hotel guest from the past? Why does she linger? Maybe you should spend the night at the Hotel Strasburg and request room 210 or 310 and find out!
This concludes this story. Please walk up High Street towards Stop #2 which is the Presbyterian Church and Cemetery.
