Est. 1884 · National Register of Historic Places · Historic Hotels of America · Napa Industrial Waterfront Heritage
Captain Albert Hatt arrived in Napa in the 1870s and became one of the town's more enterprising merchants. In 1884 he built the warehouse at the bend in the Napa River that would carry the family name for generations. The construction was distinctly local: clay dredged from the river bottom was fired into bricks on the adjoining lot, and the resulting building anchored the south end of Main Street through the rest of the 19th century.
The second floor housed a roller-skating rink in the 1880s. The 1886 addition was bonded as a federal warehouse for spirits and wine storage. Above it, Hatt Hall served as a lodge meeting space, later a National Guard armory, and later still a community ballroom. The building operated as multiple things simultaneously, as durable commercial structures in small towns tend to.
The Keig family acquired the complex in 1912 and converted it to the Napa Mill — a granary and agricultural supply operation that defined the building's character for the next several decades. The Hatt/Napa Mill complex is one of the last intact pieces of 19th-century Napa's industrial waterfront; it carries local landmark status and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Restoration began in 1995. The Napa River Inn opened inside the mill buildings in 1999, making it the first luxury hotel in downtown Napa. The Historic Hotels of America listed the property in 2004. Today the complex also contains Sweetie Pies Bakery, a spa, and The Fink Lounge.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_River_Inn
- https://www.napariverinn.com/the-hotel/historic-napa-mill/napa-mill-history/
- https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/napa-river-inn/history.php
ApparitionsPhantom footstepsDoors opening and slammingCold spotsFull-body apparition (woman in white)
Albert Hatt Jr. inherited the mill operation after his father's death. By 1906 his wife Margaret had died, leaving him to manage both a complex business and five children. On the morning of April 1, 1912, staff found him in the warehouse space — the area now occupied by Sweetie Pies Bakery — having died by hanging from a rafter overhead.
Since the hotel opened in 1999, the most documented reports cluster around the second floor. Guests in Rooms 207 and 208 have described doors opening and slamming in succession on floors they were told were empty, cold zones that move through the corridor, and the figure of a woman in a white dress — described as searching, moving with intention rather than wandering. The speculation in local accounts is that this may be Margaret Hatt, drawn back to a building where her husband lost his footing.
A separate apparition has been reported by guests who describe a man who introduced himself as Robert Keig, the businessman who converted the building to a mill in 1912. That identification, if it's accurate, makes him a figure with a documented connection to the structure rather than an invented specter.
The Napa Valley Register covered these accounts in a feature that drew on staff interviews and multiple guest reports. The Historic Hotels of America lists the ghost stories on the inn's official page. Neither source manufactures the history — the 1912 death is documented in public records, and the Keig family's operation of the mill is a matter of local business history.
Notable Entities
Albert Hatt Jr.Robert Keig
Where this legend is told
