In the old federal courthouse building in downtown Big Stone Gap, the former postmaster’s office is a squared-off room with an arched window, a small bathroom and a safe.
Town Manager Stephen Lawson said he could easily picture turning it into a small hotel room. Even if the blue-green radiator under the window isn’t functional, he’d want to keep it.
Putting a bed and some updated plumbing in Room 102 is a small piece of a big vision to turn the old courthouse into a boutique hotel, an idea that has been floated since the courthouse closed in 2023. Boutique hotels are often restored historical buildings that have a local flavor tied to the history and culture of their locations.
Now, Lawson’s a step closer to making it happen.
Big Stone Gap finalized its ownership of the historic courthouse on Friday. The building, property and courtyard are now in the town’s name after officials there worked with the federal government to acquire it.
The building was gifted to Big Stone Gap, meaning the only cost to the small Wise County town was an attorney’s fee, Lawson said.
He said he’s gone through several processes with the U.S. General Services Administration and the National Parks Service under the Department of the Interior to gain control of the building.
Lawson said they worked with the GSA based out of Atlanta, which first offered the building to other federal and state agencies. If the town hadn’t wanted it, the building would have gone to auction.
The courthouse formally closed after several years without the use of its single courtroom due to issues with outdated security and a declining caseload, mostly tied to the downturn of the coal industry in Southwest Virginia. When the industry was booming, the court was full of cases, including lawsuits over mineral rights and mining.
It opened in 1913, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
“Even though we’ve worked for three years, the project begins now. The building is now ours,” Lawson said. “I think the community will be very excited.”
The NPS wrote in an email that under federal law, the listing of a property in the National Register does not place restrictions on what a non-federal owner may do with their property.
However, because of historic tax credits and grants the town would pursue for the project, Lawson said there would be limitations on potential rehabilitation. He added that part of the application process to control the building was agreeing to keep it as historic as they could, within reason.
Lawson said he wasn’t sure if a landlord would be held to the same standards, especially if they weren’t pursuing historic preservation funding.
“It’s been such an iconic building in the middle of town,” he said. “We didn’t want it falling into the wrong hands.”
The U.S. GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is too early to say much about the project, Lawson said, particularly about what it will be used for. Local government offices, whether for the town, county or state, are also on the table. Lawson mentioned the possibility of using it for housing in years past, but wrote in a text that apartments would be a much bigger challenge and there are other sites throughout town that are more suitable.
A boutique hotel “within historic limitations” is what Lawson has in mind. He elaborated in writing his idea of a small, unique and stylish hotel with around 10 rooms that would emphasize the history of Big Stone Gap –– a stay that “makes you feel at home.”
The town manager has worked on other projects in town and he said he’s familiar with pursuing historic tax credits, like clearing window modifications and power washing only with permitted chemicals.
On a walkthrough of the main floor, Lawson said he wanted to preserve “all of it.” He peeled back a taped piece of paper on a safe door, revealing a U.S. seal, and kept picking off the remnants.
“We’ll try to make everything we do adapt to each room,” he said. In the old mail sorting room, it wouldn’t take much –– with equipment now cleared out, the empty room would just need some walls, he said.
More consideration would be required for the upstairs, where the remnants of a courthouse remain: a courtroom, a holding cell, a jury room and the judge’s chambers. Lawson said he did not have the keys to the upstairs yet.
The town manager said they’ll also try to access some of the old furniture that was removed from the building. Maybe a former judge’s desk could be used for the hotel manager –– that would be “part of the aura of what we’d like to keep,” he said.
Currently, Lawson said the only hotel near Big Stone Gap is a Quality Inn, which is outside the town limits. If the town wants to continue to attract people, as it has pushed for in its recent tourism and recreation efforts, they need a place to stay, he added.
“We want to be the place to live in Southwest Virginia,” Lawson said. “The more people we can get coming to see us, the more people are going to talk about, ‘what a beautiful little town.’”
It would also complement their efforts to revitalize downtown and support local businesses. Lawson said he is looking at examples of similar projects in other historic buildings, from cotton mills to municipal buildings.
Nothing is guaranteed yet, and it all depends on funding, he said.
“We inherited a building the federal government decided they didn’t have the funding to rehab,” Lawson said. “That’s the challenge of the whole thing.”
He said it would require a diverse pool of funding sources –– grants, tax credits, low-interest loans. Lawson wrote in a text that there is not currently an estimate on the amount the town needs to raise, which would depend on concept drafts.
The town has had success with funding projects through multiple sources, he said, citing the plan to build camping infrastructure at the Big Cherry Reservoir and the new skatepark in Bullitt Park.
As they search for funding opportunities, they will also work with design teams to develop plans. Requests for proposals and public meetings are steps they’d take in the more distant future, Lawson said.
The town wouldn’t be involved in operating a hotel, so it also would need to look for a partner, he added.
Since the courthouse was closed, no one has been allowed to enter the upper levels without permission from the U.S. Marshals Service, Lawson said, with only the post office on the main floor accessible to the public.
A key to finalizing this deal was finding a new location for the post office, which operated on the first floor of the building until this summer. On July 13, the post office opened at its new location at 512 Shawnee Ave. East in the former Allen’s Flooring building.
Lawson said it was important to keep the post office close to downtown and accessible, which was difficult with few suitable sites. He’s received some complaints about the new location’s parking challenges.
The new post office had to open and equipment had to be moved out before finalizing the deal, one of the final hold-ups in a lengthy process. Federal shutdowns, reaching the right people and shuffling between different agencies all took time, but Lawson added that “three years is pretty fast for this kind of thing.”
He added that local elected officials supported the effort, and he’ll continue to tap them now that the town is looking for funding.
U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, tried to keep the federal courthouse open for about 12 years, but he said earlier that it was a losing battle.
“The former C. Bascom Slemp Federal Building and Courthouse holds a special place in the hearts of Wise County and Southwest Virginia,” he said in a statement. “Local direction to manage and preserve the historic building will represent a new chapter in the region’s history. I support ways we can make this chapter bright.”
“I’m happy to hear that the Town of Big Stone Gap is working on bringing new life to the Big Stone Gap courthouse. … I stand ready to help in any way that I can,” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Lawson said the GSA will continue signing over things like fire and alarm systems to the town. The town will start looking closely into funding options and designs as it takes over maintenance of the building, he said.
