Monday, March 22, 2010
Readers fill in the gaps to answer questions
Tom Angleberger
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind?
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For our first segment of Ask the Readers, we're going to explore history, finding out the stories behind Botetourt Springs and the beautiful stone house near Black Dog Salvage.
One of the things I like best about Ask the Readers is that you kind folks write or call in with information I might never find in a history book.
For instance, the reader who asked about Civil War soldiers staying at Botetourt Springs resort wondered if it might have been near Hollins University.
The history books tell us that it was even closer than "near." The resort evolved into the college.
Even better, two readers wrote in with personal experience. They could attest to the proximity of college and spring -- they had the proof of their own noses.
"On certain days, as a student, I could walk by the spring and smell the sulfur," recalled Angela Watkins, a 1986 graduate of Hollins. "I was also fascinated by the smell of the old buildings West and East -- East being the oldest building on campus (I believe)."
Actually, while East Building is the oldest still in use, the oldest building on campus is an unused spring house that may be more than 200 years old, according to Hollins spokesman Jeff Hodges.
This might be the site another reader, Jessie Davis, recalled. "I can remember years ago being able to visit a mineral spring on the campus and its terrible 'rotten egg' smell."
Once upon a time, of course, that rotten egg smell meant big bucks. Mineral springs were popular sites for spas and resorts in the 1800s.
Botetourt Springs was built sometime about 1820 by Charles Johnston, according to Frances Niederer's book "Hollins College: An Illustrated History."
"Charles Johnston operated the resort until his death in 1833," Niederer wrote. "It was then taken over and run by Hezekiah Diggs. ... But the popularity of Botetourt was on the wane. In 1839 it was closed, and the property and buildings were put up for sale."
The Roanoke Female Seminary moved in, but lasted only a few years. Another attempt at a school was made and after a rough patch began to succeed. In 1855, John Hollins and his wife donated $5,000, and the rest is history. The resort had given way to the college.
According to Hodges, Hollins Institute once used the resort's buildings, but all that remains, aside from the springhouse, is a single basement door. The university's West Building was built on the spot once occupied by the actual Botetourt Springs Hotel.
Hodges also spotted some information in Niederer's book that confirms the presence of Confederate soldiers there during the war.
"General Jubal Early slept with his boots on in Mrs. Cocke's sitting room in the partially finished Main Building."
Meanwhile, the story on the old stone house near the Memorial Avenue bridge doesn't go back quite that far, but it is interconnected with Roanoke history.
The building is next to Black Dog Salvage, and I probably should have guessed that they would know all about it. In fact, they own it and have fixed it up.
According to the information gathered by Black Dog Salvage, the house was built in 1911 or so by an Italian stonemason, Michael Grosso, and his son. Grosso also worked on walls around the Hotel Roanoke, the Jefferson Center and the Fishburn mansion.
The folks at Black Dog think he also worked on the magnificent old Roanoke Post Office (called the Commonwealth Building today and located across from the Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building). They found a gargoyle in the back yard of the house that matches those that once adorned the post office's turret.
They think the house was made from surplus stone from some of these projects.
I'm still collecting information for other Ask the Readers questions. I'd especially like to get a Howards Soup Kitchen recipe, a photo of Dick's Filling Station on Grandin Road and any information about the New-York-to-Roanoke highway proposed in the early 1900s.
Got a question? Got an answer? Call Tom Angleberger at 777-6476 or send an e-mail to woym@roanoke.com. Don't forget to provide your full name, its proper spelling and your hometown. Look for Tom Angleberger's column on Mondays.
