When it was three stories and two wings, the Piedmont was quite the hotel.
Now, less than 20 percent of the building remains, but the Longstreet Society backs it up 100 percent. So I was thrilled when they arranged a meeting a the hotel on Maple Street in Gainesville and gave me a little tour of the place.
Aside from hosting a myriad of famous guests, including Woodrow Wilson prior to his presidency, journalist and author Joel Chandler Harris, Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles and Confederate Gen. Joe Johnston, the Piedmont was owned by a local celebrity himself: Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet.
I talked briefly about Longstreet in my Alta Vista Cemetery post, where the Lt. Gen spends his eternity. Longstreet was General Robert E. Lee's right hand man, his "Old Warhorse." Following his military career, controversy plagued Longstreet.
In 1875, he made his home in Gainesville and became an owner of the Piedmont Hotel. He put down half the interest in the budding hotel - $6,000 - with the deal that Alvah Smith, the previous owner, would raise the money plus interest and pay it back within six year. That never happened, and Smith signed over his interest to Longstreet, who assumed the remaining debt. In June of 1876, the Piedmont was completed and opened for business.
Longstreet owned the business until his death in 1904. During his time at the hotel, he used to walk to the nearby train station to pick up guests, which his spirit apparently still does if you're at the train station at dusk.
That's not the only spooky thing about Longstreet - supposedly, his eyes painted on the portrait in the front room will follow you all around. "If you walk around this room, his eyes follow you. It's just a little creepy and it makes you sort of behave yourself while you're in here cause he's watching you everywhere," said Past President Richard Pilcher
The Piedmont is home to something else we all know and love as well - southern fried chicken. "We wonder and we joke sometimes about the poultry industry, but looking at Gainesville's history, this is the first big poultry event or location," said Pilcher. "Georgia Poultry Federation tells us that southern fried - batter fried - chicken was served here [at the Piedmont]. There were stories in one of the New York newspapers that sent a couple of reporters down and they did stories, not so much on the Piedmont, but on the chicken that was served here."
P.S. - a full online history of the hotel and a little more about the Lt. Gen., which is much more in depth than my selection of stories, is available here.
Now, the Piedmont has made it this far, but not without some help. The Longstreet Society, as I mentioned earlier, are the ones who keep up with the hotel. The non-profit found the hotel about 22 years ago - yes, found - but it was only one wing and one floor of the formerly grand structure.
First, the Longstreet Society began, then a member opened a loose door in an old building on the lot where the Piedmont stands. He realized looking in the old building that they might still have a little bit of the hotel. So the Longstreet Society set out to confirm and later, renovate what was left.
"After finding the building, they had to go through a whole different process. Finding out some of the floors aren't original because they were rotten, so in some places they were paper thin," Clarke said. Going through the process of raising money and trying to save everything original if possible - doorknobs, doors, a lot of the plaster was saved - so a lot of the original things aren't just for historical value, you want to make it useful, but you also have to make it up to the specifications of today."
There are a few original pieces in the hotel. Clarke said a chair and a teapot survived, however, the vast majority of items in the hotel are just period.
"We have been in debt as much as $170,000 at any one time but a net of over half a million dollars. And as of about a week ago, thanks to our good friend and very active Longstreet Society member Ron Hollis, we are debt free," said Pilcher.
If you're looking for a reason to go visit, the Longstreet Society's annual Bivouac is coming up on May 21 from 10-4. Bivouac is a free community event that has a little lunch, a historic hotel tour, civil war encampment, and a self-driving tour of Gainesville. If you're so inclined, you can also check out the Longstreet Society's Facebook page for today in history as well as upcoming events.
It's not a challenge to get there either. Head towards Main Street off Jesse Jewell
A side note before we go... As I've stated before, I am a big history buff and I believe those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. This Yankee has a lot of respect for those, like the Longstreet Society, that go out of their way to share the stories. Ain't nothing civil about that war, as my mother would say, but we can still learn or at least enjoy the stories left behind.
Go get some southern fried chicken and join me next week as we head up the way to a very special junk yard.
Until next time,
Stay curious.
