
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 8, 1995                   TAG: 9510090075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HISTORIC INN'S REGISTRY TO STAY IN PUBLIC EYE

When Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson signed his name in the Oakwood Inn's guest registry July 15, 1854, he and his wife probably didn't realize the value that signature would have nearly 150 years later.

The registry, which also contains the signatures of 2,500 other 19th-century travelers, now belongs to Lexington's Stonewall Foundation.

The foundation paid $5,000 to outbid other interested parties - including a Californian who sent a sealed bid of $4,000 - at an auction Saturday in Augusta County.

Roanoke auctioneer Jim Woltz said he's glad the public will have access to the historic book, and hopes others will share his experience of discovering ancestors who stayed at the inn.

Approximately 200 people turned out for the auction, which also offered Shenandoah Valley furniture from the 1700s.

One piece, a cupboard Woltz pulled from a shed, looked like something most people would discard, he said. To his surprise and delight, it brought $1,800 at the sale.

A doctor from Staunton bought the house, built in 1848, and its 221 acres for $300,000. He plans to farm the land but is not sure what he'll do with the house, Woltz said.

by CNB