Historic Northern Virginia Inn

The Ashby Inn & Restaurant was originally built as a four-room private residence by local blacksmith Manley Pierce in 1829, with additions added during the Civil War. The town of Paris, Virginia served as a critical crossroad for those traveling between Winchester, Virginia and the District of Columbia throughout history and predates America’s founding.

The town was named for American Revolutionary War hero, the Marquis de Lafayette, who visited the village. General George Washington knew the tavern here, noting it in his diary as early as his surveying days in the mid-1700s. Confederate generals, Stonewall Jackson and Joseph E. Johnston slept on the original front porch of the Ashby Inn on their way to the First Battle of Manassas on the night of June 17, 1861. Col. John Singleton Mosby stayed in town during the war and Union general Ulysses S. Grant and his troops bivouacked in the Grove of White Oaks behind the tavern.

H.S. Hanes, a local builder and undertaker, built the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church in 1895. Reverend Shipley performed the first wedding in the church in 1899 for Samuel Weir and Grace Green. The structure has two entrance doors, exquisite nave, chancel, curved pews, and stained glass windows. The stained glass windows were donated in memory of H.S. Hanes, W.W. Rogers, Alice Kendall, and The Kings Daughters of Paris. Charles Shipley, the first minister who also made a sizable contribution to the building fund, donated the pulpit Bible.

The red-roofed bell tower can be seen for miles, and its architecture sets the tone for the village of Paris, Virginia. It remained a church until 2011. The Leopolds purchased this property, known as the Ashby Chapel, in 2015 and now use it for private events and weddings.