What’s Old is Nu Again
WHAT'S OLD IS NU AGAIN
What's Old is Nu Again
The former owners of Double Oaks make their mark on North Carolina’s oldest hotel — the NuWray. Now, a new generation is discovering why Jimmy Carter, Mark Twain and Elvis all stayed here.
By Page Leggett
When you pull into downtown Burnsville — a little mountain town (pop: 1,612) in Yancey County — you might think you’ve stumbled onto a movie set. Surely, some studio honcho ordered up the charming square complete with a historic inn and its rocking chair-filled front porches on two levels.
That’s the NuWray, North Carolina’s oldest continuously operating hotel.
The first time I saw it, while visiting the area for the twice-yearly Toe River Arts Studio Tour, it was closed for an overhaul. But I was captivated and knew I had to return.
The NuWray opened in 1833 as an eight-room log structure called Ray’s Hotel.
Owner Garrett Deweese Ray’s daughter, Julia, married William Brian Wray, and the couple inherited the hotel after Ray’s death in 1932. Locals began referring to the inn as the NuWray to distinguish it from its predecessor, the “Old Ray.”
The Wrays added the now-iconic stone fireplace in the lobby in the 1930s, although you’d swear it must’ve been there all along. The inn remained in the family for four generations before being sold in the 1990s, changing hands frequently and falling into disrepair.
That is, until an enterprising Greensboro couple intervened.
The ultimate DIYers.
Amanda and James Keith discovered a penchant for historic preservation while renovating a home in Greensboro. Their second renovation became the Double Oaks Bed & Breakfast, which they owned and operated from 2016 to 2024.
James is an electrician — among other things — who does much of the work himself.
Both the Keiths had full-time jobs while running their B&B: James was a music minister at First Presbyterian, and Amanda ran the Wake Forest University press. But both loved hospitality and went looking for a project that would allow them to be full-time innkeepers.
When they discovered the NuWray, it appeared down and out. But the Keiths were undaunted. The inn had “good bones,” as real-estate agents say of ramshackle properties.
And it had a pedigree. “People from all over knew the NuWray in its heyday,” Amanda says. Jimmy Carter and Elvis Presley stayed here. Christopher Reeve is rumored to have been a guest. And the NuWray has hosted so many writers — Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe, O. Henry, F. Scott Fitzgerald — that Amanda was inspired to name one of the rooms “The Writer.”
But the inn’s biggest fans may be the people of Burnsville.
“If you ask just about any local, they’ll have a story,” Amanda says. “They worked here, their mother worked here, they had their wedding here. I don’t think there are many locals the NuWray hasn’t touched in some way.”
Staying true to the original
The Keiths bought the inn in October 2021, moved to Burnsville that December and started renovating in January 2022. They also bought the property adjacent to the inn and converted it into Carriage House Sundries, an art-filled coffee shop by day/wine bar by night with a humidor for cigar aficionados.
They wanted a big project, and they found it. “With historic properties, nothing is straightforward,” Amanda says. “You have to do a lot of it on the fly; you never know what you’ll find when you open up a wall.”
Amanda, who designed the interiors, found five layers of wallpaper in some places. “The wallpaper tells the story of the inn,” she says. Visitors can see preserved samples in several places.
The NuWray never had central air until the Keiths added it. They kept what furniture was usable, and Amanda scoured antique shops and Facebook Marketplace to source other pieces almost exclusively from the area.
The community was central to the restoration. Local crews worked on it, and, throughout the inn, you’ll see paintings by local artist Melissa Flattery and quirky lighting made from books, antique typewriters and other found objects by craftsman Ed Doyle.
When Amanda learned that a member of the Wray family, Joy Bennett, is a potter in town, she commissioned her to make ceramic name plates for each guest room.
A taste of history
In 1915, the Wrays started a restaurant, which really put the NuWray on the map, Amanda says. The Southern “country-cooking” recipes had been passed down through generations. Meals were served family-style.
“That’s difficult to pull off nowadays,” Amanda says. “The health department doesn’t particularly like it, and it’s wasteful.”
But the revamped restaurant, open for breakfast, supper and Sunday brunch, honors the NuWray’s history with updated recipes from the hotel’s historic cookbooks, such as “Will’s Sunday Cake” (custard-filled chocolate sponge cake with chocolate meringue frosting) and a “Smothered Salad” (mixed greens with warm bacon vinaigrette). Duck and dumplings, chicken-fried steak and a tomato tarte with goat cheese mousse are other standouts.
While James Keith was the chef at Double Oaks — what can’t he do? — the Keiths wanted someone with experience running a bigger kitchen for the 26-room hotel.
They lured Chef Peter Crockett to Burnsville from Asheville. “We really appreciate the environment he creates in the kitchen,” Amanda says. “He’s a strong leader and mentor. That was important to us because it helps attract and keep staff.”
The original smokehouse — now called Roland’s in honor of Will Roland, the hotel chef for over 40 years — serves al fresco drinks and snacks on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 to 10 p.m. The former laundry facilities in the basement are being converted into a bar with a speakeasy vibe.
Burnsville’s post-Helene hub
The hotel reopened to much fanfare in August 2024. Just a few weeks later, on Sept. 27, Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina. In its aftermath, the NuWray became a lifeline.
“Immediately after the storm passed, people began pouring into the square,” Amanda says. “No one had phone service, so this was the logical place to find out what was happening.
“Everyone was either looking for information or trying to pass information along. We started paper lists of what roads were passable, who’s missing, who’s looking for whom, what supplies are needed and where.” Those paper lists soon morphed into whiteboards.
The flooded restaurant was cleaned and the kitchen pressed into service. Townsfolk needed to be fed, and the NuWray needed to use stocked food before it went bad.
The staff of Carriage House Sundries, which had been open for almost a year, “showed up ready to help,” Amanda says. “Everybody jumped in and prepared what we could without electricity: sandwiches. We smoked all the meat we had in our fridges and freezers on our outdoor smoker, the Smok-O-Motive. Then, people started bringing their meat for us to cook.”
A 60 Minutes crew, including correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, documented Helene’s devastation and the recovery efforts in October 2024. Of course, they stayed at the NuWray.
The hotel reopened for a second time in May with a “Restoration Shindig,” a celebration of the hotel’s — and town’s — resilience.
“This wasn’t the opening season we pictured,” Amanda says, “but I’m grateful we got as far as we did before the storm hit. If we hadn’t, there’s no way we could’ve contributed what we did. And I think it’s so poignant that this is now part of the NuWray’s history. It’s been a beacon for a long time.”
Make your way to The NuWray. Learn more about Burnsville’s pride and joy and book a room at nuwray.com. The inn has 26 unique guest rooms with en-suite baths. Four are dog-friendly. There’s no elevator, but the inn has two first-floor guest rooms.