1897 Colonial Revival mansion of Warwick County's 'Boss Man' Simon Reid Curtis, now a Lee Hall bed-and-breakfast said to host between seven and twelve resident spirits.
10 Elmhurst Street, Newport News, VA 23603
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Bed-and-breakfast room rates and event-venue pricing set by the inn; ghost-tour partners (e.g., Colonial Ghosts) sell separate experiences. Contact the inn directly for current rates.
Access
Limited Access
Historic 2.5-story Colonial Revival frame house with porches and interior stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1897 · Simon Reid Curtis House · Warwick County government and commerce · Lee Hall Village · National Register of Historic Places (2009) · Virginia Landmarks Register (2009)
The Historic Boxwood Inn occupies the Simon Reid Curtis House, a 2.5-story Colonial Revival frame building constructed in 1897 as the first dwelling in Lee Hall Village and the only 19th-century structure remaining in that small Warwick County crossroads. Simon Reid Curtis (1857-1945) designed the house to do double duty as his family home and as the civic center of the county: it housed the Hall of Records and the tax assessor's office, the county post office, and a general store. Curtis served as Warwick County treasurer from 1899 to 1945, was the road commissioner and Lee Hall postmaster, and ran the local Democratic Party, earning the nickname the 'Boss Man' of Warwick County.
Warwick County was consolidated with the City of Newport News in 1958, and the Lee Hall area today is a small historic node alongside the Chesapeake and Ohio rail line and Yorktown Road. The Curtis family lived in the house through the 1960s. The property changed hands several times before Barbara Lucas and her family purchased it in 1995 and began a multi-year restoration that turned it into the Boxwood Inn, a working bed-and-breakfast, restaurant, and event venue.
In 2009 the Virginia Department of Historic Resources added the building to the Virginia Landmarks Register (DHR record 121-5031) in June, and the National Park Service listed it on the National Register of Historic Places in August. The inn sits in immediate proximity to the Lee Hall Depot (across Elmhurst Street) and is part of the larger Lee Hall historic cluster that also includes Lee Hall Mansion and Endview Plantation on Yorktown Road.
The Boxwood Inn continues to operate as a guesthouse and special-event venue, and has been featured in regional travel and haunted-history coverage including Colonial Ghosts / Williamsburg Ghost Tours, Virginia Haunted Houses, and Haunted Rooms America.
Sources
Boxwood Inn lore, as collected by Colonial Ghosts (Williamsburg Ghost Tours), Virginia Haunted Houses, and Haunted Rooms America, attributes between seven and twelve resident spirits to the property. Unlike many Tidewater haunt sites, the reported phenomena are domestic and welcoming rather than violent.
The most consistently named presence is Nannie Curtis, Simon Reid Curtis's wife. Guests and staff describe her as a warm, hospitable figure who seems pleased that her house is again full of visitors. According to a story recounted by Colonial Ghosts, when Barbara Lucas began the 1995 restoration she remarked aloud that she needed an emery board and turned to find a clean nail file resting on a dusty surface; she jokingly asked the house for $100 and shortly after found a gold tooth stuck to her shoe, which she sold to a local pawn shop for that exact amount.
Other figures reported in tour and directory accounts include an elderly man with a cane seen near the staircase, and a traveling salesman said to have died in one of the upstairs guest rooms and to occasionally make himself known to overnight visitors. Activity attributed to the property includes the smell of pipe smoke, doors opening and closing on their own, and the sound of voices in empty rooms.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Stay overnight in the 1897 Simon Reid Curtis House, a Colonial Revival mansion that once served as the Hall of Records, post office, and general store for old Warwick County. Guests share the house with the spirits reported by staff and previous visitors, most famously Nannie Curtis, described as a warm and welcoming presence.
Colonial Ghosts / Williamsburg Ghost Tours and other regional operators include the Boxwood Inn in their itineraries, recounting the inn's history and reported hauntings. Tours are sold separately from the inn's own programming.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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