Open for special occasions and events. Please check Facebook and this web site for opening announcements.
To make arrangements for group tours call 706 695-4313
For rentals call 706 695-4416.
Chair: Dale Lowman
Big Blue Train Ride
Polar Express at the Chatsworth Depot
Features Decorated Wright Hotel
The Whitfield-Murray Historical Society is proud to announce the annual Polar Express is returning to the Chatsworth Depot on Saturday, December 2nd from noon until 4 p.m. Local retired educator C.L. Dunn will present readings of the book, THE POLAR EXPRESS, inside the depot on each half hour.
The Chatsworth Train Depot will be elaborately decorated for the Christmas holiday and will include a model Christmas train running in the freight room of the building. Local train enthusiast Ted Yarbrough will provide operating trains.
Refreshments will be served at the depot by Friends of the Chatsworth-Murray County Library. The event is free for children 10 and under (must be accompanied by a paid adult), but a $3 donation for those ages 11 and up is requested for Depot admission.
The Depot’s Big Blue Train will offer rides to visit Santa at the Wright Hotel located around the block from the Depot. The decorated Hotel will also be open for tours. There is no charge for the train rides or admission to the Hotel, but donations are always appreciated.
The event is sponsored by Friends of the Chatsworth-Murray County Library, the Wright Hotel Committee, and the Chatsworth Depot Committee.
Directions
Thomas Wright, the creator of the Wright Hotel, opened his once flourishing business in 1909. An influx of Northerners and Southerners alike flocked to the rural town of Chatsworth to drink the refreshing mineral waters, enjoy cool mountain breezes, and to dine on Southern-style cooking. Mr. Wright, a farmer, builder and architect, along with his cousin supervised the construction of the three-story hotel. Not only was it a hotel, but also the home of the Wright family, which included his wife and six children. Mr. Wright rented a brick plant for a year to make the rose colored bricks to build his hotel. The heart pine lumber needed for construction was cut from his farm and aged for a year. The hotel has served many including jurors, school teachers, judges, politicians, and honeymooners.
Many historic displays and memorabilia can be viewed here such as the rock that is present at the bottom of the stairs—mail for the guests was placed under this rock, the 7-foot tub in which Mr. Wright was baptized, original furniture and Indian pottery and baskets. The hotel also houses a collection of nursing paraphernalia belonging to Kate Raine, daughter of Mr. Wright, who served as a nurse on the Indian reservations of the southwest. Hotel registers dating to the 1920s give a glimpse of those who stayed there while it was thriving business.
Mrs. Raine left the Wright Hotel to the historical society upon her death in 1986. The society promised to preserve and maintain the site as close as possible to its original condition. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Share Your Stories of the Wright Hotel
"While I was working at an open house at the Wright Hotel a lady came in with her daughter and granddaughters. She told them she had spent her honeymoon night at the hotel. I offered to look in the register book to see if we could find her name and there it was. We were all excited and I think the children looked at the hotel a little different." ~ Melissa Burchfield
Do you have a story passed down in your family about the time they might have spent at the Hotel? Or maybe you met and spent time with Mrs. Kate Wright Raines, the last family member to own the Hotel. The Wright Hotel Committee is looking for stories about the Wright Family and Hotel for a new book. Please send to Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, P.O. Box 6180, Dalton, GA 30722-6180.
