The Waverly Hotel is a designated Heritage Site for its connection to a famous murder, as well as for its Second Empire style architecture.
 
In 1887, Timothy McCarthy, a wealthy businessman and horse trader who had visited the hotel, disappeared in nearby Pointe-du-Chêne. His corpse was found in the Scoudouc River the following year. The killing caused an uproar, and it was suspected he had been robbed and murdered by Harry Osbourne, whose father ran the Waverly Hotel. He was tried and ultimately acquitted of the charges, leaving the crime unsolved. Annie Parker, a maid who worked at the hotel, claimed the Osbourne family had indeed murdered Mr. McCarthy for his money and that she had witnessed the event. The tragedy inspired folk singer Georges Arsenault to write a famous mourning ballad, "Le Meurtre de Timothy McCarthy: Une Complainte Acadienne", that details McCarthy’s killing from the perspective of Annie Parker.
 
The hotel is also exemplary of Second Empire, an architectural style that at the time dominated buildings, particularly hotels, in the area.