10/02/2025
This is one of the earliest known images of the Martha Washington Inn, in Abingdon, VA. You can see how different the third floor looked compared to today, along with the original 1830s windows, which were replaced by Victorian styles. The porch also underwent significant changes. It’s intriguing to spot New Orleans-style iron porch posts right here in Southwest Virginia, highlighting the immense wealth of the Preston family and the house's design to impress. A special thanks to my friend Robert Weisfeld for this remarkable image.
The Martha Washington was originally built in 1832 as a private residence for General Francis Preston and his family. The Prestons were one of Virginia’s most influential families, with connections reaching into politics, the military, and industry. Their sprawling brick home reflected the stature of a family who held wealth, power, and responsibility across the frontier lands of Appalachia.
In time, the Preston home transitioned into the Martha Washington College for women (hence its name), then later served as a Civil War hospital. Eventually, in the 20th century, it became the Martha Washington Inn, welcoming guests with a blend of historic elegance and Southern hospitality.
The Preston family’s influence was not confined to Abingdon. In Saltville, the family’s legacy looms just as large. Salt was as valuable as gold during the early years of settlement and war, and Saltville’s vast natural salt deposits made it one of the most important sites in the South. The Preston family controlled these resources, and through their management Saltville became a strategic economic site.
During the Civil War, Saltville’s saltworks were fiercely contested. The salt preserved meat for Confederate armies, making the town a vital supply line. The Preston family’s ownership and oversight of the saltworks placed them squarely at the crossroads of war and survival for the region.
Today, the Martha Washington Inn stands as a reminder of the Prestons’ prominence, while Saltville’s museums and historic markers tell the story of how one family’s enterprise shaped the destiny of Appalachia. Together, these places connect the dots between Abingdon’s genteel brick mansion and the rugged, essential salt mines of Saltville—two different landscapes bound by one family’s influence.
When you walk the halls of the Martha Washington or stand on the grounds of Saltville’s old saltworks, you are standing in the footprint of the Preston legacy—a reminder that the history of our mountains is written not only in stone and timber but in the enterprise, ambition, and endurance of the families who carved out lives here.
Daniel Shew, The Old House Agent ®
Licensed in Virginia and Tennessee
Prestige Homes of the Tri Cities, Inc.
701 Bluff City HWY
Bristol, TN 37620
Office: 423-217-0346
