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Photo 2003: Courtesy of Bob Venditti
 
Above: During the later 1960s, a 24 unit two-story guest building was added to the Dunn Motor Lodge bringing its total number of guest rooms to 60. Once an Orange Gem of the road, Dunn lasted in one form or another a remarkable 45 years. Unfortunately during 2006 it was closed and had apparently been the subject of foreclosure, for Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T) had become it owner. Standing vacant for at least a year, BB&T worked to have the site subdivided, rezoned and sold.
dunn
Photos 12-7-07: Courtesy of Robby Delius
 
 

Above, Below & Lower: Traveler Robby Delius discovered in December of 2007 that time had run out for Dunn. Alas it will not be revitalized as a motel or much less listed as an architectural treasure on the National Register of Historic Places, rather it will be demolished. While at the cordoned off site, Mr. Delius found that a band of marauding pillagers was stripping anything and everything from the long intact former HoJo's--thus destroying its long-lived integrity...

The site was so remarkably intact that even roof-top flood lights were still in place. They had been designed to illuminate the guest buildings' white roofs--an ingenious play of light devised by the architect Rufus Nims way back in the 1950s to better showcase HoJo's sparkling modernity and attractiveness in order to lure passing motorists.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
An Era is Ended as Dunn Succumbs: Gutted, the guest rooms were even stripped of railings and bathroom fixtures. Piles of mattresses and other furnishings littered Dunn's once inviting and restive park-like setting
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thanks to Robby Delius, Phil Edwards, and Bob Venditti for their photographs and documentation efforts. And a special thank you goes to Penne Sandbeck and Richard Silverman of the North Carolina Department of Highways who recognized Dunn's significance and prepared a well-written and superbly documented report recommending Dunn for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
 
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