HOTELKEEPERS OF THE ACADEMICAL VILLAGE

[Julia Munro. Last updated: 02/06/18]

 

Student John Thompson Brown's (P36641) room at the Massie's (P45901) boarding house (Hotel A), 1880

The tables below list the assigned hotelkeepers of the University of Virginia, from the earliest managers of the first constructed hotels (A-D); through to those managing all six hotels (A[1], B[2], C[3], D[4], E[5], and F[6]) in the Civil War era. Also listed[7] are individuals who had off-precincts or "out-boarding houses" (PL8557), whether official or unofficial university residences, near or within town, and other known locations such as Monroe Hill (PL8505), Carr Hill (PL8512), and so on. For information on the stores, taverns, and places of significance beyond the precincts, please see Early Store Owners.

Although some hotelkeepers are listed prior to 1826, the Board of Visitors Minutes from December 5, 1826 confirm Warner W. Minor, "Edwin Conway, J. B. Richeson, and George W. Spotswood, as suitable persons to keep hotels of the University." From 1826 through to the 1870s, one can trace the sometimes-convoluted history of the hotel managers, with Keepers (and often their families and attendant slaves): moving from one hotel to another or to "the city" (Charlottesville) to keep their own "out boarding" houses; staying for various lengths of time at a hotel (from one year to twenty-one years); or being replaced by their wives (such as Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Conway, Mrs. Minor, and so on) - and this does not even account for the intermarrying between Hotelkeeper families, Professors, and even students, nor the growing number of lodging available as the university itself grew (such as University properties on Monroe Hill, city properties, etc.) 

Convoluted as it may be, the timeline of hotelkeepers is significant for the very reason of it being so entangled: to know who was the hotelkeeper at a particular point of time is to also know a host of other relevant information, such as the number of slaves within that household, student occupants, adjacent Faculty households, and the many interactions and conflicts that occured. A "spatial" understanding of who was housed where and when, in short, allows present-day audiences to better understand the many University records that revolve so much around the pivotal information of place and the regulation of bodies within the Academical Village. Student infractions, for instance, known for being particularly frequent in the often-literally rebellious early years, often record the attempts to control the Student Body via the regulation of its bodies: punishments were decreed for students being without the university limits (including being seen in taverns or a "house outside precinct" known for its girls of "bad character") and for unruly gatherings within the precincts (dancing, eating, gambling, dueling, or worse, revolting against the university).

To best know the earliest history of Jefferson's University, then, is to know the significance of the places wherein the lived actions occured; the significance of which cannot be underestimated in the uncovering of the history of the enslaved who, so often without the individual markers of a static name, birthdate, and family, can be known by place: a "female slave" of Professor Patterson, the servants of Professor Bonnycastle's "cellar rooms," or "a boy and a woman" occupying the "cellar of Pavilion VI."

 

Notes Regarding Tables: The tables below provide the key, or unique identifier, for each person and hotel; use the key to search for references to that person/place in the primary records of the JUEL database (click on the keys below, or go directly to the Search page).

"?" indicates missing information or that a person or date range has to be verified. Some table Information was derived from the University of Virginia Office of the Architect Hotel F Historic Structure Report

Detail, Academical Village Map

Above: Map of the Academical Village 

[1] HOTEL A PL8432

1824 - 1844

Edwin Conway P43888

1832(?)-1845

Mrs. Conway P44225

1845 - 1856

Addison Maupin P43755

1857 - 1858

Ansele Brock P43766

1858 - 1860

Daniel Ward P43756

1860 - 1865

?

1865 - 1881

Henry Massie P45900 

Mrs. S. E. Massie  P45901

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[2] HOTEL B PL8433
1825 (Mar - Dec)         Simeon B. Chapman P43828
1826 - 1828 John B. Richeson P44606
1828 Mr. Mathew P46950
1828 (?) William Wertenbaker P43631
1829 - 1832 (?) ?
1832  Mrs. Lucy Brockenbrough P44061
1833 - 1846     Hotel B used for Office of the Proctor and Janitor's workshop 
1846 - 1870     ?

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[3] HOTEL C PL8434 

1825 - 1828    Warner W. Minor P44605
1828 - 1834 ?
1834 - 1835? Mrs. Minor P44036
1835 - 1856? ?
1856 - 1857 Daniel Ward P43756
1857 - 1870  ?

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[4] HOTEL D PL8435

1825    

A. Workman P46962

1825 - 1828

George W. Spotswood P46607
1828 - Jul 1833 William Wertenbaker P43631

Jul 1833 - 1834

Captn. John N. Rose P43866

Feb? 1834 - Jul? 1835

Daniel Perrow P44168 

Sept. 1835 - 1840  

Col. William Ward P43873
1840 - 1841  Mrs. Margaret Ward P46961 

1841 - 1845 (?)

Thomas T. Swann P44050
1845- 1848  Josiah Bigelow P46963

1848 - 1854

George W. Briggs P43779
1854 - 1855 William Wertenbaker P43631

June 1855 - 1856

Daniel Ward P43756 
1859 - 1870 ?

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


[5]
 HOTEL E PL8436
 

1825 - 1828    John Gray P44367
1828 - 1845 Mrs. Sarah Carter Gray P43865
1845 - 1856 Col. James R. Watson P44020
1856 - 1878 Mrs. Mary S. Ross P43754

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[6] HOTEL F PL8437 
1825    James Byers P46965
1826 - 1828 Simeon B. Chapman P43828
1828 - 1829 George W. Spotswood P46607
1829 - 1833 Captn. John N. Rose P43866
1833 - 1846 (Alexander Penci, Instructor Fencing
and Gymnastics, lived in upper room
1834-1839) P43877
1846 - 1853  William L. Kemper P43707
1853 - 1858 ?
1858 - 1861 (?) Dr. Wyatt W. Hamner P43771
1861 - 1865 ?
1865 - 1874 William Jefferies P46966

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[7] Miscellaneous  
 
Listed here are housing situations other than Hotels A through F. These range from other university residences in different geographical locations than the Academical Village - Monroe Hill (PL8505) and Carr Hill (PL8512) for instance - to various hotelkeepers and out-boarding houses (PL8557), within Charlottesville/near the University. 
 

University Catalogue Listed Hotelkeepers
Of the Catalogues (click for full text versions) from the 1rst (1826) through to 64th Session (1888), the following list "University Hotelkeepers":

  • 1848-50 (25th, 26th Sess.): Edmund Broadus (P43777), John R. Watson (P43778), Addison Maupin (P43755), Geo. W. Briggs (P43779)
  • 1850-1 (27th Sess.): John R. Watson, Addison Maupin, Geo. W. Briggs, Lawson Barnett (P43780
  • 1851-4 (28th, 29th, 30th Sess.): John R. Watson, Addison Maupin, Geo. W. Briggs, William McCoy (P43757
  • 1854-5 (31st Sess.): John R. Watson, Addison Maupin, William McCoy, William Wertenbaker (P43631
  • 1855-6 (32nd Sess.): John R. Watson, Addison Maupin, William McCoy, William Wertenbaker, Daniel Ward (P43873) (new this year: a 5th hotelkeeper named)
  • 1856-7 (33rd Sess.): Addison Maupin, William McCoy, Daniel Ward, William Wertenbaker, Mrs. Mary S. Ross (P43754)
  • 1857-9 (34th, 35th Sess.): Mrs. Mary S. Ross, Daniel Ward, Mrs. Sally McCoy (P43765), Anselem Brock (P43766), William Wertenbaker
  • 1859-61 (36th, 37th Sess.): Mrs. Mary S. Ross, Daniel Ward, William Wertenbaker, Wyatt W. Hamner (P43771)

University Catalogue Listed Boarding Houses
Of the Catalogues (click for full text versions) from the 1rst (1826) through to 64th Session (1888), the following list "Boarding houses near the University":

  • 1832-3 (9th Sess.): Mr. Anderson, Mr. Bibb, Col. Branham (P47771), Mrs. Brockenbrough (P44061), J. Brown, Col. Carr, D.F. Carr, Mr. Jones, later Mrs. Maria Jones (P44351), Mr. Leitch, Mr. McKee (P47876), C. Meriwether, Mr. Vowles (P43886), M. Woods

  • 1880-1 (57th Sess.): Dr. Chancellor's; Mrs. Emerson's; Mrs. McKennie's; Mrs. Garth's; Morea, by Mrs. Smith; Mrs. Smithson's; Ivy House, by Mr. Smith; Mrs. Keller's

  • 1881-2 (58th Sess.): Dr. Chancellor's; Mrs. Emerson's; Mrs. McKennie's; Mrs. Garth's; Morea, by Mrs. Smith; Mrs. Smithson's; Mrs. Keller's

University Catalogue Listed Rooming Assignments
The 1832-3 Cat. (9th Sess.), 1848-9 Cat. (25th Sess.), and 1849-50 Cat. (26th Sess.), are unique in listing student dormitory assignments.

Monroe Hill, Carr Hill, Named Locations

  • Mr. William McCoy (P43757) and his wife Mrs. Sally A. McCoy (P43765) were likely at Monroe Hill from 1851-7; Mrs. McCoy is confirmed to have been the hotelkeeper at Monroe Hill from 1857-8.
  • In 1863, Addison Maupin (P43755), brother of Socrates Maupin (P43731), purchased the residence of Carr Hill and likely continued to run it as an inn/boarding house; he eventually sold the property to the University in 1867 in order to ensure that it would not be occupied by "objectionable tenants."

Other Off-Grounds Locations

  • The 1835 Faculty Minutes (Session 12) mention Captn. Daniel Perrow (P44168) receiving licence to keep an out-boarding house (PL8595); he previously was a hotelkeeper on the grounds. 

  • The 1838 Faculty Minutes (Session 15) mention that students must be "above the age of twenty" to "board out of the university"; student John Peyton (P29059), for instance, received permission to board with Mrs. Brockenbrough (P44061), who formerly ran Hotel B (1832). 

  • Beginning in 1837, Miss Lucy Terrell (P43999) is mentioned as keeping an "out-boarding house" in the vicinity of Carr Hill; she is mentioned as a hotelkeeper as late as 1856.

  • Col. Michael Johnson (P43992) was mentioned in the Faculty Minutes of October 1840 to have applied to keep an "out-boarding house." As late as December 1852, Col. Johnson is mentioned as a hotelkeeper, although the location of his house is still unclear (Chairman's Journal, December 21, 1852, volume 10). 

  • In the October 1, 1840 entry of the Chairman's Journal, Miss Lucy Terrell (P43999), Mrs. Maria Jones (P44351), and Capt. Daniel Perrow (P44168) were said to have applied for "renewal of their licences to keep out Boarding Houses."

  • 1858-60 Board of Health certificates for off-grounds housing certified that numbered boarding rooms at certain locations were "fit for the occupancy of _ students"; the locations listed were Mr. Harris's (P47807) house (PL9313), "Widdifield's new frame house" (PL9314) Miss Terrell's (P43999) house (PL9117), Mrs. Smith's, and Mrs. Carr's (P47443) house (PL9259). 

  • The 1860 Census lists Mary M. Mitch, Mary B. Strange, and M.J. Smith (Professors John M. Strother and Professor Tuttle are listed under this household) as boarding house keepers  that are in close proximity to known hotelkeepers in proximity to the University. It is unknown as of yet if students lived there.

  • The 1870 census lists students and workers who occupied the Prentis, Hunter, McKennie, and Michie boarding houses (names that are also listed in the University of Virginia's Proctor's Ledger). The census does specify that these boarding houses are affiliated with the University.