A short history of Baton House

About two kilometres beyond the new cycle bridge over the Baton River, you will find the extraordinary Baton House, a replica of the original Baton Hotel constructed on the same site in the 1860s.

John Salmon Taylor and his wife Ann Elizabeth Taylor (nee Firmin) arrived in the valley in the late 1850s. They had 12 children: eight daughters and four sons. At least the four eldest were born in England before the Taylors moved to New Zealand. Two daughters may have been born during their travels. The remaining children were born in the Baton Valley. Their youngest daughter, who was born in 1874, died in infancy.

The Taylors built and together operated the original Baton Hotel during the valley’s short-lived gold rush. It not only offered accommodation but was also a pub, restaurant, general store, and a place to sell gold dust.

When John Taylor died in 1883, Mrs Taylor continued to run the Baton Hotel. She became known as the “Queen of the Baton” because she was born on May 24, the same day as Queen Victoria, who reigned at the time. Each year on their joint birthday, a grand ball was held in the hotel. Clearly a resilient woman, Mrs Taylor survived her husband for another 21 years.

In the Baton’s heyday, there was also a school and a horse racing track. Further down the valley, JW Sutcliffe was the licensee of another pub. A post office also operated from 1885. For the first few years, it had no fixed abode and moved between the school, settlers’ homes, the store, and the hotel.

While the goldfield was abandoned around the turn of the 20th century, a handful of settlers remained, setting up small farms and the businesses that supported them. This included five of the Taylor’s daughters, who married and settled in the valley. Eventually, the hotel was abandoned and, over time, became derelict. No one knows exactly what became of the original building, although some people believe it burnt down.

Several decades later, in 1987, two of the valley’s oldest families, the Lublows and MacLeans, started a petition to protect the historical town site at the head of the valley, where the original Baton Hotel once stood, and where two unmarked graves lay in the land.

At the time, the area was the subject of a prospecting application by two Nelson-based contractors, who argued that the only people using the land were the “odd gold fossicker, odd shooters and campers”. As a result of the campaign, the families prevented the miners from moving in.

About 20 years after the local community fended off the miners, the 59 hectares of land encompassing the old town site was put up for sale. Lucy Ulrich and her partner Mart Leek bought the land in 2008 and the Baton Valley Trust was formed. During her previous visits to the valley, Lucy had seen the photo of the old Baton Hotel in several local baches. To honour the valley’s history, she decided to recreate it.

Today, the Baton House is a faithful replica, at least from the front, of the historic hotel. Mart and Lucy have lovingly envisioned a spacious four-bedroom house appointed with unique and sometimes quirky antique European furniture and fittings, but with discreet modern comforts. At the northern end of the house there is an expansive, airy “ballroom”.

You can read more about the history of the Taylor family and the original Baton Hotel as well as the new Baton House in Kerry Sunderland’s book, Belonging in the Baton Valley: Life in a remote river catchment northwest of Nelson. Copies are available for sale at Lublow’s Leap (opposite the Baton Valley cycle bridge) or online at https://thebatonhouse.nz/batonbook. The book is also available at local libraries.