The Walking Horse Hotel is a hotel on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. It is located in downtown

Wartrace, Tennessee Wartrace is a town in Bedford County, Tennessee, Bedford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 548 at the 2000 census and 651 at the 2010 census. It is located northeast of Shelbyville, Tennessee, Shelbyville. The downtown area is li ...

, and is a part of the Wartrace Historic District. The hotel is in business as such, and also contains the Strolling Jim Restaurant, named for the original owner's World Grand Championship-winning

show horse A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer fo ...

History

The Walking Horse Hotel was first built in 1917 as a railroad hotel, and was named the Hotel Overall. In 1933, the Hotel Overall was purchased by Floyd and Olive Carothers. In the late 1930s, it was the base for a group of horse trainers, who eventually created the

Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration (TWHNC), sometimes known as the Celebration, is the largest horse show for the Tennessee Walking Horse breed, and has been held annually in or near Shelbyville, Tennessee since its inception in 19 ...

, an annual horse show held for the first time in 1939. Because of this, the name was changed to the Walking Horse Hotel. The first winner of the Celebration,

Strolling Jim Strolling Jim (1936–1957) was the first Tennessee Walking Horse to become World Grand Champion of his breed. Since Strolling Jim's death, a restaurant, street, and an annual ultramarathon in his hometown of Wartrace, Tennessee have been named aft ...

, who was owned and trained by Floyd Carothers, is buried behind the hotel. Since 2015, the

Tennessee Walking Horse National Museum The Tennessee Walking Horse National Museum is the only museum dedicated entirely to the Tennessee Walking Horse. It is located in downtown Wartrace, Tennessee, and contains exhibits on all aspects of the Walking Horse industry. History The Tenne ...

has had a framed portrait of Strolling Jim on display. Floyd Carothers died in 1944, but the hotel was owned and operated by Olive Carothers until 1958. The building was sold several times, then renovated in 1995 and reopened as the Hotel Overall. It was closed several years later, renovated again by current owner Joe Peters, and reopened in 2007 with the Walking Horse name. True to its history, the hotel retains many Walking Horse-related artifacts, particularly in the Strolling Jim Restaurant.

Modern day

The hotel was renovated in 2007, and now includes the Chais Music Lounge, named for the owner's late wife, and the Strolling Jim Restaurant, which serves three meals a day. The hotel has seven rooms available for rent.

Hauntings

Every fall from late September to

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

, the Walking Horse Hotel is open to the public as a haunted attraction. It is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Floyd Carothers, and in 1995 some guests reported seeing the ghost of Strolling Jim "prancing" around by his old stables behind the hotel. Paranormal activity is supposed to have dropped, however, after Olive Carothers, Floyd's widow, died in 1991. In May 2016, the second floor of the hotel caught fire. It and the third floor sustained smoke and water damage but were mostly unharmed.

In popular culture

Television

The Walking Horse Hotel was featured on an episode of ''

My Ghost Story ''My Ghost Story'' is an American television series on the paranormal, which premiered on July 17, 2010, on the Biography Channel. The series features ghost stories told from a person's own supposed experience with the supernatural. Each episode ...

''. The segment was titled "Dead Horse Walking". It aired on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

in 2012. The hotel was also showcased as a haunted location on ''

Haunted Live ''Haunted Live'' is an American paranormal television series that premiered on September 14, 2018 in the United States on Travel Channel. The series features the Tennessee Wraith Chasers, a group of paranormal investigators who are famous for t ...

'' in 2018 as the Tennessee Wraith Chasers investigated the hotel live with viewers through social media. The episode aired on the Travel Channel.

References

External links

* {{authority control Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Bedford County, Tennessee Wartrace, Tennessee National Register of Historic Places listings in Bedford County, Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Bedford County, Tennessee