“In 1833 the price of board and lodging was ten dollars per month. The public room was a spacious hall, having in it a large open fireplace.... In one corner of this public room was the bar, having shelves on which were ranged decanters and bottles of the ardent—the elixir of life.... Our farmers sat down to a superb dinner, and cheerfully paid the landlord fifty cents for it—not as in the present times, when many bring snacks in their pockets and eat them while sitting at a fire kept up by the landlord for the guests of the hotel.”
As late as the 1790’s public dances were given here, and were attended by high and low, the different classes keeping to themselves, though without friction. (This mingling was doubtless due to the scarcity of music.) Here, too, the political parties celebrated their victories with great dinners, and endless speeches and toasts.
An old book gives this somewhat disconcerting glimpse of the village in 1818:
“SATAN’S THUMB”
In passing through the place in 1818, Dr. Conrad Speece attempted to preach at night in the court house, but nearly failed, due to the insufficient light, and the rudeness of the boys. He spent the night at the tavern, and such were the sentiments uttered by the prominent gentlemen, and such the conduct of the young men frequenting the tavern, that he said the next day: “When Satan promised all the kingdoms of the world to Christ, he laid his thumb on Charlottesville, and whispered, ‘except this place, which I reserve for my own especial use’.”
This old hostelry in its day housed all the great men of the vicinity, and a great many from a distance.
CIVIL WAR PERIOD
SHERIDAN’S RAID
Charlottesville was occupied by Sheridan’s Cavalry, U.S.A., arriving March 3rd, 1865, and leaving on the 6th. Their entry was from the West, and troops encamped in many sections of the town: “above the University,” South of the University (Piedmont), Belmont, Park Street, what is now Locust Grove, etc.
A committee from the University secured guards for that institution and it was uninjured. There was no burning in the town with the exception of the Woolen Mills, East Market Street, which had furnished material for Confederate uniforms. All approaching bridges were destroyed. Searching homes for hidden arms was almost universal, and there was considerable looting, followed in some instances by mobs of negroes and disorderly whites. A detailed, edited letter in the Magazine of Albemarle County History, Vol. 14, gives the following information: