LoCoHistory

What has 3-feet thick walls, reinforced steel doors, an iron cage, and is surrounded by an 18-foot high wall ? A good guess would be the 1876 Charlottesville Jail (the first Albemarle County Jail was built in 1749). You probably drive by the jail frequently, without noticing it. It sits behind the juvenile court offices, off E High and Park Street (near Hedge Street). Inmates were segregated by gender and race, with a 30-minute window for visitors, from noon until 12:30. The jail held between 35 and 40 inmates. Visit the Sheriff’s Office website for more details and an old photograph of the jail. An adjacent house was added in the early 20th Century for the jailer and his wife. The “Old Jail” closed in 1974 (when the modern Albemarle-Charlottesville Joint Security Complex opened on 5th Street Extended).

After recently apologizing for slavery, the University of Virginia created a committee charged with researching the enslaved and Free Black community at the university. Although these individuals are not (yet) featured prominently in histories of “Mr Jefferson’s University,” they provided much of the labor that constructed the original buildings, ca. 1819-1828. And, up until Emancipation, many professors and students lived with enslaved individuals on grounds. In addition, throughout the 19th Century, the university was surrounded by several African-American neighborhoods (e.g., Canada, located south of Cabell Hall and the site of the Foster House and Cemetery).

Memorials to the African-American community are scattered throughout grounds. One example is the “crackerbox” (allegedly named after 19th Century students from Georgia who were called “crackers”). This small building, located behind Hotel F, has a rich oral history including references to a bordello, a 19th-kitchen, a woodshed, “the smallest dormitory in the United States,” and, quite possibly, slave quarters. For a fascinating discussion of other campus buildings that may have been used by slaves or post-bellum servants, visit Jim Cocola’s on-line essay titled The Ideological Spaces of the Academical Village: A Reading of the Central Grounds at the University of Virginia.

The newly formed university committee that is researching this forgotten history is hoping to compile any and all documents, oral histories, photographs, or family geneologies that relate to the enslaved and Free Black community at the university. A website dedicated to this project will be posted this summer. If you have information on this topic, please consider contributing it so that it can be compiled into formal accounts of the history of the university.

Although there are 100s of hotels in Charlottesville today, one of the most historic is the Gleason Hotel (today referred to as the Old Albemarle Hotel). Located on Main Street, near the Amtrak Station, the building has been repainted in a bright yellow, with white trim. The hotel was built in 1897 by Michael S. Gleason for $12,000. Next door, Hase’s Imperial Cafe was built for $3000. The name “Albemarle Hotel” dates to the 1930s when the original owners went bankrupt and sold the hotel. The hotel was condemned in 1976. Today it operates as a series of shops with apartments above.

Multiple renovations left their imprint and provide a treasure map for curious passerbys. For example, if you go around to the back of the hotel you will see the remnants of plain “structural stars” for providing support between the stories. You will also notice a technique called “quoining” (the non-linear vertical brick work), used to enhance the support for the corners of buildings. The location of this feature suggests that this was originally the corner of the building, with a later addition visible today. If you look along the western side of the building you will see the remains of staircases and if you continue to study the brickwork you will realize that there was once a contiguous building on this side. The front of the building contains numerous architectural features: Corinthian columns, a recessed loggia (the ground floor gallery that is open to the street), and brick pilasters (rectangular columns).

The hotel is on the national historic register. If you wish to read more about this structure, visit the DHR site and download file 104-374 (the property is located at 617-619 W. Main St.). You will need adobe acrobat to read the file. An historic photo of the building is provided to illustrate the once continguous buildings. Visit a UVA site to read more.

If you look carefully, you will notice that downtown historic structures occasionally have a metal plaque next to the door. The one shown below is at 111 Main Street, the former residence of John Vowles, dating to the 1820s. These metal plaques were provided by fire insurance companies as a proof of purchase. If the home (and all of its papers) burned down, the plaque would remain to prove that the homeowner had purchased insurance. Ingenious. Who can say in today’s high tech world whether any file (electronic or paper) would survive a house fire ? The mark shown here is from the Fire Association Of Philadelphia. Visit an external site to view some of the images from other insurance companies. And then keep your eyes peeled when you’re walking downtown. They are rare, but several buildings have these marks….can anyone find the one below ? Hint: the color surrounding the plaque is from the color of the front porch of the house. Although it won’t help you find it, the image identifies the mark as belonging to the Firemen’s Insurance Company, Baltimore, Maryland. This particular policy was issued c. 1835 and contains a wonderful drawing of an old-fashioned water pump.

Albemarle County has many wonderful historic sites, one of the rarest is the last of two remaining pole ferries in the country (located just south of Scottsville). You can ride across a section of the James River on the Hatton Ferry, for free, between mid-April and October. The ferry was used by merchants and farmers who paid to travel back and forth across the river, from Albemarle to Buckingham County. Traded items included: wagons, buggies, horses, cattle, sheep, farm equipment, lumber, and farm produce. Moving goods from the eastern to the western side of the river enabled farmers and merchants to reach the railroad and the canal (located in Albemarle County, to the West). The ferry has sunk several times (in storms and floods), but operates today with the help of a father/son team. To read more about how the ferry works (i.e., how can a person use a fiberglass pole to propel a flat-bottomed boat containing an SUV) and about the fascinating characters who operated the ferry in times past, visit the Scottsville Museum site dedicated to the history of the Hatton Ferry.

The Beth Israel congregation originally worshipped at the corner of Market and 2nd Street. In 1904, the government purchased the site from the congregation in order to make way for a post office. The old building materials were donated to the congregation and these materials were used to build a new structure at the corner of 3rd and Jefferson St. This building, in turn, burned in 1948, and the current building was rebuilt on the site. To learn more about the history of the Beth Israel Congregation, visit the on-line exhibit titled “To Seek the Peace of the City: Jewish Life in Charlottesville.” The interior of the synagogue contains an unusual series of windows that document the Biblical story of creation through stained glass.

UPDATE: 16 June at 2pm join Dr. Leffler for a tour of historic, Jewish C-ville. Tix are available from Anne Schwartz at 295-6382 or anne@cbicville.org (Adults $12, Children $8). Proceeds benefit the Congregation Beth Israel Preschool. (more…)

This historic hotel wins the competition for most renditions of Jefferson’s profile: on their plates and doormats, just to name a few.

The Monticello Hotel is located directly opposite the courthouse. It was built in 1926 for $800,000.

One of its claims to fame was the “world’s largest searchlight,” mounted on top of the 9-story building and allegedly visible for 100s of miles. In the photo below (taken in 2007), you can see the spot where the searchlight was mounted (at the top of the building). The hotel closed in 1989 and was later renovated into condominiums. Ironically, the hotel was originally slated to be called the James Monroe, but the popularity of Jefferson, and his homestead, won out.

As you wander north of the downtown mall, start reading the slate signs mounted on many of the brick buildings and the sometimes hidden, grey metal historic markers. This area, centered around the courthouse, contains dozens of old buildings. One famous example is the Swan Tavern, built sometime in the mid- to late-18th Century. The original structure was described in the early 1900s by Mr R Henry Carr (who was then 83 years old). He remembered it as a wooden building, with double porches, and a large picture of a swan for a sign. The tavern was originally operated by John Jewett, who owned it until his death in 1802. One commentator theorized that Jewett is buried in the lot alongside his beloved tavern. Sometime in the early 19th Century the tavern was abandoned. Sometime after that, a corpse was discovered in the ruins of the building, placed there by medical students who were getting in a little extra hands-on time with dissection techniques. In 1832 the ruin was replaced by the brick stucture that still stands today at the corner of E Jefferson and Park (today, the Red Land Club).

Due to the wonderful comments in the earlier post, I decided to add a little more information about the Marchant Building off the corner of Dale Avenue & Harris (visible from Preston Avenue). The Sanborn excerpt below is thanks to the contribution of Bill Emory (read his original comment in the earlier post).

I edited the description within the building because it would not be visible at the scale necessary to fit in this post. Because Sanborn’s were made by a fire insurance company, they list details on construction and assets within structures. The main room in the Marchant building was described as a “pressing and stock room” on the 1st floor and a “cutting and sewing” room on the 2nd. And in this map the company is described as the H.C. Marchant Manufacturing Co., Inc., manufacturers of overalls and clothing. For a detailed description of the attendant Woolen Mills neighborhood, visit the Historic Woolen Mills site compiled by Bill Emory and his neighbors.

How many times have you driven by the county office buildings/Bodo’s on Preston and wondered what the Gothic-looking mansion was originally ? I’m referring to the H.C. Marchant Manufacturing Company. In a 1906 “illustrated edition” of the Daily Progress, the plant is described as “devoted exclusively to the manufacture of overalls and coats of every grade.” Amazingly, the building contained 6,325 square feet of office space and originally employeed 75 workers. Alas, the article concluded that “the future of this company is undoubtedly assured.” While that does not appear to be the case, it’s admirable that their motto was “No Skimping,” with an emphasis on the “best material,” “full cut,” and “honest make.”

I’m pretty certain that the owner of the building is the same Henry C. Marchant who owned the mill in Woolen Mills. To the right is an example of their letterhead (from a letter dated 1878). H.C. Marchant’s name and title “President” is highlighted in the upper left-hand corner and the advertisement promises “cassimeres (sic), cadet grays, suitings, Kerseys, etc. etc.” Does anyone know what a Kersey is ?