McNutt, Dr. Robert B., House - Princeton, WV - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Dr.Robert B. McNutt House is located at 1522 North Walker Street, Princeton, WV. It was the only house left standing in Princeton after the town was burned during the Civil War. The House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 as number #01000777.

Architecturally speaking, the original section of the house was built around 1840, and is a classic I house configuration, with a two-story, three-bay main facade and a one-bay wide, two story centered portico. Later additions include a one story, hip roofed section and a two-story ell. The portico has curvilinear brackets and a second story railing in the Gothic Revival style. The house sits on a random ashlar sandstone foundation.

Historically speaking, the McNutt House was used as headquarters during the war for Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes and Sgt. William McKinley (both past U. S. Presidents). The house was used as a headquarters and field hospital by the Union Army in the spring of 1862 and thus, this location is located along the West Virginia Civil War Trail.

QUOTED FROM THE APPLICATION TO NHS:
Upon reaching the town, Hayes and his men found most of the buildings in flames, torched by Confederate Colonel Jenifer as he withdrew south to Rocky Gap. Despite the destruction, Hayes found the town an excellent place for provisioning an army, with plentiful food and forage, and enough remaining buildings to store equipment and quarter men. Hayes did not mention the McNutt house by name, but did remark that "Some fires were put out; [and] four or five tolerably fine dwellings were saved.” Among the buildings saved was the house of Dr.
McNutt, which for the next eighteen days would serve as general headquarters and hospital for the invading Union army. The McNutt family avoided trouble during the occupation by taking refuge at the Holyroyd farm near the town of Athens, and, upon their return, were delighted to find nothing missing or damaged, as per Sgt. William McKinley's promise to Mrs. McNutt on the day Union forces occupied the town.

Currently, the house acts as the PMCCC (Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce) offices and is open for tours per their website.

Hours: Monday-Friday 9-4. No admission charge. Visitors welcome.

Street address: 1522 N. Walker St. Princeton, WV USA 24740 County / Borough / Parish: Mercer County Year listed: 2001 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Person, Event, Military, Health/Medicine Periods of significance: 1875-1899, 1850-1874, 1825-1849 Historic function: Domestic, Health Care Current function: Chamber of Commerce Privately owned?: yes Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 4:00 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   09/01/2023 Don.Morfe visited it 09/26/2015 GPS777 visited it

View all visits/logs