The Wright Hotel, a property of the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, is one of the area’s most unique pieces of history.
The 1909 building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places not once but twice, as an individual property and as part of the Chatsworth Historic District. At the corner of Market Street and Second Avenue, the Wright Hotel was built with locally produced bricks and lumber and operated as a hotel for about 60 years. It was also home to the Tom and Laura Holbrook Wright family who owned the business.
The Wrights’ daughter, Kate, left the hotel and its fabulous collection of furnishings and artifacts to the historical society upon her death in the 1980s. She also charged the group with maintaining the structure as nearly as possible as it was during her and her mother’s lifetimes. Naturally, money is always needed to meet her request and preserve this one-of-a-kind building, so closely connected to Chatsworth’s earliest days as a new railroad town.
The principal fundraiser for the hotel is a twice-a-year Porch Sale that features a wide variety of collectibles, books, glassware, tools, decorations, artwork and household items at good prices. The spring sale will be March 22-23 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days. All items are donated for the cause and all proceeds from the sale will go toward special needs at the building. First and foremost is a new roof for the main part of the house after wind damage during the winter. Then there are columns with rotten boards that need to be replaced and some plumbing that requires attention.
Of course, donations are also welcome and can be sent to the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society Wright Hotel Committee c/o Melissa Burchfield, Treasurer, 59 Coffey Church Road, Crandall, GA 30711.