Est. 1859 · Civil War Federal Occupation Site · Antebellum Commercial Architecture · Rowan County Hospitality History
The building at 112 E Innes Street began its public life as the Boyden House in 1859, named for Nathaniel Boyden, a prominent Salisbury attorney and later U.S. Congressman. From its opening it served as the primary lodging hub for travelers arriving by rail and as a gathering point for local business and political life.
The Civil War altered the character of downtown Salisbury profoundly. The town was home to a Confederate prison camp that at its peak held thousands of Union soldiers under conditions that drew national attention after the war. When Federal forces occupied Salisbury following Appomattox in April 1865, officers and soldiers took over civilian buildings throughout the district, and the Boyden House — renamed the Empire Hotel in the post-Reconstruction era — was among the properties commandeered.
The hotel operated through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as Salisbury's commercial core shifted. It closed in 1963, and the structure has since been noted for its architectural continuity with the antebellum streetscape. The Salisbury Post documented the building's full operational history in 2016, drawing on property records and local historical accounts.
Sources
- https://www.salisburypost.com/2016/08/28/how-the-empire-began-salisbury-hotel-was-hub-of-activity-from-the-start/
Apparitions in period military dressShadow figures near exteriorUnexplained presences reported by tour guides
The Empire Hotel's place on Salisbury's paranormal circuit rests primarily on the witness accounts collected by the Salisbury Ghost Walk and documented by groups including the Ghost Guild. Reports cluster around the Innes Street facade and the adjacent sidewalk: guides and tour participants describe seeing figures in what they characterize as Civil War-era uniforms that do not correspond to any re-enactment or event underway at the time.
The Ghost Guild, which documents haunted locations across the region, specifically lists the Empire Hotel among Salisbury's most-reported sites. The overlap with the building's verified history — Federal occupation after Appomattox, years of transient wartime guests — gives the reports a narrative anchor that local guides lean on.
No active paranormal investigation program with public bookings has been confirmed at the site. The building is not currently operating as a hotel, making access interior-side unlikely without private arrangement. The ghost walk remains the primary organized way to engage the location's reputation.
