Lots of lucky people got the chance to take a walk through history during a tour of the Empire Hotel Thursday evening.
Around 250 people walked through the iconic building on South Main Street during the Historic Salisbury Foundation’s History on Tap event, the first of three to be held this summer. Tour goers listened as guides told the hotel’s story. After the tour, people gathered in the alley adjacent to the hotel to drink beer while musician David Myers played his guitar .
The hotel stands across from the Meroney Theater and first opened in 1859 as the Boyden House — named for Nathaniel Boyden, who was a local lawyer and politician. The hotel was expanded in the early 1900s and the name, which at the time was St. James Hotel, was changed to Central Hotel, and then later to Empire Hotel.
