Historic Edenton, N.C., bed and breakfast is sold

By Connie Sage

Correspondent

EDENTON

A Virginia Beach lawyer came to the auction of the historic Lords Proprietors' Inn to buy some beds.

He walked away owning the entire bed and breakfast.

Stephen Gunther, president of the non profit Tidewater Real Estate Investors Group, bought the inn, its restaurant and parking lot at auction Saturday for $270,000.

Owners Arch and Jane Edwards had hoped to sell all six properties that were part of the 2-acre inn as a package for $850,000.

Gunther and two others instead bought separate parcels for a total of $707,000. The land and buildings had been appraised for $2.2 million two years ago.

Lords Proprietors was built in 1902 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It is expected to remain an inn, said Gunther, who lives in nearby Hertford and commutes to his law office in Virginia Beach.

The Pack House, moved two decades ago from a nearby 1785 plantation, also will be turned into an inn, according to its new owner, Michael Scalpi of Lewiston.

He and partner Giuliano Giannone of New Bern also bought the 1890s Tillie Bond House at the auction for a total of $312,000.

The 1801 Satterfield House, used as two luxury suites at the Lords Proprietors Inn, was bought for $125,000 by a woman whose mother-in-law grew up there.

"We're very excited to have it back in the family," said Teresa Byrum of Winterville.

Byrum, an elementary school principal, and her husband, Walter, minister of music for Memorial Baptist Church in Greenville, plan to eventually retire in the house.

Byrum said she already has dining room and bedroom furniture that were in the home when her mother-in-law, the late Grace Wilkins was growing up.

Contents of the Lords Proprietors' Inn houses also were sold Saturday by Woltz & Associates of Roanoke.

The inn, at 300 N. Broad St., had been a bed and breakfast for nearly 30 years. Its owners are retiring.

The Lords Proprietors' was the third historic property in Edenton valued at more than $1 million to be sold or put up for auction in the past seven months.

The 1850 Wessington House was sold in November for $1.6 million. Owners of the 1850 Pembroke Hall unsuccessfully tri ed to sell it through an Internet auction earlier this year. It is listed at $1.4 million.