History
From horse-drawn wagons to solar-powered
cars, the Historic Buena Vista Motel has been a landmark on the Historic
National Road through ages of westward travel.
The original Buena Vista Tavern was built in
1836. The inn was a simple but spacious federal-style brick house with
unique features, such as an oversized front door and extra panes in the
windows. There were at least three guest rooms, a parlor, a large dining
room, and a servants' kitchen and quarters.
In the 1930s, the inn operated as the Hollyhock Lodge,
and seven cabins were built behind the main house, in a quaint motor-lodge
arrangement. Postcards from the time boasted that everyone from P.T.
Barnum to Abraham Lincoln stayed at the inn when it was the Buena Vista
Tavern. Although all of its alleged famous guests were known to have
traveled the National Trail, there is no substantial evidence that they visited
the Buena Vista Tavern.
Phillip and Denna Johnson bought the property in 1963
and rented out rooms in the house and the cabins as the Buena Vista Motel.
In 1966, one year before Interstate 70 was opened, the Johnson's shut down the
hotel and rented the cabins as apartments until 1986. One cabin burnt down
in 1968 when a guest left clothing on top of the heater.
There are now three cabins left of the original
seven. Denna Johnson finished restoration of the first cabin in 2007 and
is working on the other two, scheduled to open in 2008.
