LOXLEY, Alabama --- If you travel down Relham Drive in Loxley you will see a lot of familiar sites.

You’ll pass by several businesses, a church or two, along with the town’s police station and fire station. But you might not notice a rather unassuming structure located just across the street from the fire station.

If you do notice the building, you will find that it has certainly seen better days with paint and in some areas pieces of the wood paneling, chipping and peeling off, while most of the windows have been boarded up.

For many of the older residents of Loxley, however, the more than 100-year-old structure known as the Old Loxley Hotel is an integral part of the town’s history and for one resident, the building presents an opportunity to preserve a piece of that history.

When Valerie Foy (then Steimle) moved to Loxley 18 years ago, she and her husband would often pass by the old building while walking or riding bikes around town.

“We often talked about how we thought it would make a nice bed and breakfast,” Foy said. Then about two years ago, she said, she decided to find out who owned the building.

She found out the owner, Judy Wilkins, had plans of making business suites out of the building, but after constructing an animal shelter in North Baldwin, she had lost interest in the idea, Foy said.

“I just wanted to see what we could do to save the structure and at the same time, preserve some of the history in this area,” Foy said. Since then, she has proceeded with plans to restore the hotel into a historic museum, gallery and gift shop.

According to records, the Old Loxley Hotel was built around 1905 by John Marold and his wife Ephrium, just before the railroad was constructed from Bay Minette to Foley. The hotel was located in front of the railroad, opposite the railroad depot.

Marold became a widower and married two other women. The last, Nanny Stapleton, became the owner after Marold died in 1934. Stapleton ran the hotel until her death in 1946.

Her daughter, Mable Stapleton Rossing, took over running the hotel, but following her unexpected death, also in 1946, Jake Jacobs who owned a dry goods store next door, bought the hotel.

He added on a side room with a door as a little apartment to live in while running the store. He also enclosed the wrap-around porch on the south side of the building on both floors which has no siding to date, increasing the size of the building from 4,176 square feet to 5,828 square feet.

The building was abandoned somewhere in the late 1970s and has sat empty ever since. Wilkins bought the hotel around 2000 and made a few repairs, Foy said.

Foy said her hope is to restore the hotel to its original condition, including opening the room back up to recreate the porch on the south side of the building.

“I’ve had so many people tell me stories about the building since we began this project,” Foy said. “I had one person tell me they got their first kiss in this building. Another person talked about how they would eat breakfast here. There’s so much history here that needs to be preserved.”

In December of last year, the hotel was declared a historic landmark by the Alabama Historic Commission.

Two fundraisers have been held, one a concert with Elvis impersonator Danny Rand in February and another during the Baldwin County Strawberry Festival in April, which have raised close to $1,500. They are also selling cookbooks in an effort to raise money, Foy said.

In a press release issued in February, Foy estimated about $300,000 is needed to renovate the building.

Foy said they also have antique pieces that have been promised for donation once the renovation is complete. They have also received a donation of $500 worth of paint and Flowerwood Nursery has offered to donate landscaping for the building.

On Independence Day this Wednesday, a Fourth of July Flag raising ceremony and pancake breakfast has been planned to kick off the start of remodeling for the hotel.

A flag raising ceremony will kick off the event beginning at 8 a.m. across the street at the Fire Station, followed by the breakfast. After breakfast everyone will get the opportunity to help scrap and paint until around noon.

“It is our hope that this will generate a lot of interest in helping preserve the structure,” Foy said. “We’re going to concentrate on making the outside look nice, and then we can focus on repairing what needs to be done on the inside.”

Foy said they will accept any and all donations to help preserve the structure and a piece of the town’s history.

“We are always looking for more sponsors,” Foy said. “Anyone who has an interest in preserving a piece of history is certainly welcome to donate whatever they can to the project.”

Everyone is welcome to the flag raising and breakfast, Foy said, but she said children under 12 are prohibited from participating in the renovation.

For more information contact: Valerie Foy, 251-964-4211.