Like many buildings in Harpers Ferry, this former inn was built in several stages and served a dual purpose. Built as a store, it was enlarged to serve as an inn but had reverted to shop use with living quarters above at the time of John Brown's raid. To obtain room for the building, stone was blasted from the steep cliff side behind, and the rubble used for foundation and exterior walls. The facade of the stuccoed building is covered by a two-tiered piazza sheltered by an extension of the dormered gable roof. The building, rehabilitated and repaired several times in recent years, is now a bookstore.