Williamsburg couple opens Gray Ghosts Inn

Jan and Steve Gray are ready to welcome guests to the Gray Ghosts Trail Inn in Williamsburg. The inn is located directly on the Gray Ghosts and Boone's Lick trails, both of which have strong ties to the Civil War.
Jan and Steve Gray are ready to welcome guests to the Gray Ghosts Trail Inn in Williamsburg. The inn is located directly on the Gray Ghosts and Boone's Lick trails, both of which have strong ties to the Civil War.

Visitors to Callaway County - particularly those with an interest in Civil War history - have a new place to stay.

After months of renovations, Jan and Steve Gray are ready to open the doors of the Gray Ghosts Trail Inn in Williamsburg.

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Philosophies are exchanged between customers by James (Jesse Eisenberg) and Joel (Martin Starr) in Adventureland.

Originally built in 1905 by a local banker, Jan Gray said the house, located at 10703 County Road 184, "was incredibly well-built."

"The more we got into it, the more we decided to make it beautiful," she said.

Steve Gray said the couple decided to get into the inn business as a retirement project.

"It was an opportunity we were looking for," he said.

The Grays chose to utilize and emphasize as many of the home's original pieces as possible - including the front door framed by stained glass windows, wooden floors and 10-foot ceilings everywhere but the laundry area created by framing over the old back porch.

"It's cute and charming, and needed to be restored," Jan Gray said of the couple's decision to restore the house and turn it into an inn. "It's important to history because it sits right on the Civil War Gray Ghosts Trail. Bloody Bill Anderson came through here and picked up one or two guerrillas on his way to Danville."

Callaway County is home to seven stops on the Gray Ghosts Trail, including the Historic Boone's Lick Trail in Williamsburg, which was used during the Civil War as an east-west conduit for troops. Other Callaway stops include the Old Auxvasse Cemetery just north of Calwood; a stop in Kingdom City devoted to the story of how Callaway became a "kingdom;" the Battle of Moore's Mill in Calwood; and the Westminster College columns, the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society and the John A. Hockaday House- all in Fulton.

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