Murders, Whores, Wars and Healing Waters

A Non Jeffersonian Tour of Charlottesville
Murders, Whores, Wars and Healing Waters


So you have taken your guests to Monticello. Then you toured the Rotunda. Then you walked The University’s Lawn, looked at the Pavilions and gardens, peeked into Poe’s room. Ash Lawn: check, Montpelier: check. Day two with the guests has just begun, and they are glancing at their watches. But everyone is fed up with The University. Now what? How about going on an insider’s tour of Charlottesville that doesn’t involve any of our three favorite dead Presidents. As it is a total of 8 miles. the trek could be broken into two. Start with the downtown segment, ending at Vinegar Hill, followed by vehicle ride to Belmont, Cherry Avenue and Fry’s Spring.

First, lace up your Timberlands, pump up the bike tires, or fire up the Prius, and head downtown. Your GPS should be set for 601 Park Street, at Comyn Hall.

Most recently a quiet old folks home, it was in the early 1900’s the site of a notorious murder. Beautiful Fanny McCue, found dead in her bathtub, had been shot in the chest, bludgeoned and strangled.

A sensational trial ensued, in which Fannie’s husband, third term Mayor Samuel McCue, was found guilty of capital murder. Travel south on Park Street to see the site of his botched hanging, the last in Charlottesville.

Turn left at High, then right on 4th. Half way down the block, look right to see the old stone county jail. The picturesque 18 inch solid stone walls, inside of which McCue took 20 minutes to die, have frustrated potential developers over the years. The jail currently is slated to be the object of a study to determine future uses. It is best viewed from the top deck of the adjacent parking garage.

Next, set your GPS for Wine Street, a few blocks to the north. Read the relatively new historic marker, situated on McIntire Road, which tells the story:

The house mentioned is identified by a simple slate sign.

Travel east to the corner of High St. and 9th and pass the Tarleton Oak gas station on your left. It was named for the popular, now debunked legend that Col. Tarleton (see next) camped there during his Revolutionary War occupation of Charlottesville. Further on your left will be Charlottesville’s oldest public cemetery, Maplewood, est. 1831. Here you can visit the remains of some of Charlottesville’s most prominent citizens, including Paul G. McIntire, Charlottesville’s benefactor, as well as heroes of the Civil War and several foreign wars.

Down High St, after you pass the soon to be vacated Martha Jefferson Hospital (est. 1903); take a right on Locust Avenue, then a left on E. Jefferson Street. On your left at number 1201 will be The Farm.

Occupying half a city block, it too has its own explanatory historic marker Q-27: “The Farm stands on a 1020-acre tract acquired by Nicholas Meriwether in 1735 and later owned by Col. Nicholas Lewis, uncle of Meriwether Lewis. A building on the property likely served as headquarters for British Col. Banastre Tarleton briefly in June 1781. In 1825, Charlottesville lawyer and later University of Virginia law professor, John A. G. Davis, purchased a portion of the original tract and engaged Thomas Jefferson's workmen to design and build this house. It is considered one of the best surviving examples of Jeffersonian residential architecture. Maj. Gen. George A. Custer occupied the house as his headquarters for a brief time in March 1865.”

The house is just visible from the road. The professor mentioned, John Davis, was murdered by a UVa student, reportedly leading to the creation of the UVa student governed single sanction Honor System. The Farm’s wartime history mentioned illustrated Charlottesville’s firm resolve in times of war. During both the Revolutionary war, and the War Between the States, its citizens quietly surrendered and bunkered Tarleton, and then Custer in style.

Continue down 12th; take a right onto Meade and a left onto E. Market Street. Continue to the end to visit The Woolen Mills neighborhood. This was the site since 1795 of Charlottesville’s longest running industries. The mills manufactured inexpensive wool cloth, first for slaves, then for soldiers, then civilians, only ceasing operations in 1964.

Here too you can fish the Rivanna River, view a fish ladder and a mill race, and imagine the 1800’s river bateau landing grandly named Port Pireus. Monticello is just a short hike up the mountain across the Rivanna River.

Turn around, head back up E. Market Street and take a left on Franklin Street, to visit the underbelly of Charlottesville, known as Hogwaller. On the left is the Livestock market. You can still auction livestock there on Saturdays. It is also the occasional source of amusement as citified cops have to try to corral escaped hogs and cattle.

Return, take a left on Market Street, and take a left at 9th, then a right on Garrett Street. In between 6th and 4th street was the now nonexistent 5th street, the site of one of Charlottesville’s most famous bordellos, strategically located near the C&O train station.

It was popular with townspeople, UVa students, and travelers. Apparently a common ploy was to pack bags for a trip, head to the train station, and instead go to Marguiretta’s. Virginious Dabney, in his “Mr. Jefferson’s University” said “Marguiretta Crescioli, variously described as a Creole, part Indian or black, opened what is said to have been a high-class establishment on Fifth Street in 1922, just after houses of prostitution had been outlawed by the Virginia legislature…..Marguiretta's fancy establishment was finally closed by the police in 1946 or 1949.” It is said that the police were not strangers to the Madam. Her building was torn down in 1972. During the demolition the place was mobbed by treasure seekers, as the prostitutes had concealed money throughout the building.

Continue on Garrett Street, turn left on 2nd Street NE, and then turn right onto Oak Street. Here you will find the juxtapositioned Oakwood, Hebrew and Zion cemeteries. Oakwood Cemetery, established in the 1860s, was Charlottesville’s second oldest cemetery. About 25%of its spaces were designated to be “colored”. Then, according to the African American Heritage website:
“In 1873 the Daughters of Zion, an all women African-American society, created a two-acre independent plot across Oak Street to provide a dignified resting place for those African-Americans who did not wish to be buried in Oakwood’s segregated section. … The Daughters of Zion continued to own and manage this cemetery from 1873 to sometime in the 1920s or early 1930s... . Sometime during the late 20s or 30s … (they) disbanded, and their cemetery had no official ownership until the city assumed title to the property in the 1970s….. (It) served as the burial place of many prominent African-American Charlottesville residents … (such as) Benjamin Tonsler … a pioneer educator of African-Americans for whom Tonsler Park… is named. “

Continue up the hill to Ridge Street. If you were to go right, when you intersected Main Street, you would be looking down Vinegar Hill.

Formerly a thriving black neighborhood, it was demolished during 1960s urban renewal. About all that is left is The Jefferson School on 4th Street ( the city’s first high school for blacks), and the Jokers Barber shop at 406 Commerce St.

Instead, we took a left back at Ridge Street, then a right onto Cherry Avenue. Go five blocks. As you drive past 9th through 10th Street on your left, before Buford School, you will see Oak Lawn, built in 1822.

Owned by the Fife family since 1847, it occupies an entire city block. Part of the original 338 acre tract eventually became known as Fifeville. In a chance encounter at First Fridays with former Mayors Frances Fife and Nancy O’Brien, I learned that Frances does not live there, and that the house is not visible from the road. He told an anecdote about another practically invisible neighborhood namesake. He knew someone who had been a lifelong Belmont neighborhood resident who had never known about The Belmont, built in 1837 at 759 Belmont Avenue, erected on the area’s high ground. It is unassuming because a more modern addition faces the street. The original historic façade is just visible around back from the church parking lot.

Belmont



Continue down Cherry Avenue, when it ends at Jefferson Park Avenue, take a left, and shortly after, take a right between the twin stone pillars guarding Fry Springs Swim Club. This place is second only to Blue Hole or Albemarle’s Blue Ridge Swim Club as the coolest place to be in the summer. The following history was adapted from the Fry’s Spring Beach Clubs Web site:
In 1839 James Fry built his estate, Azalea Hall, where Fry’s spring was found. Interest in the mineral rich spring water spread and the site was developed in the following years. The Jefferson Park Hotel, built in 1892, served as a resort and spa for those who came to relax and recover from various ailments. The waters of the spring were promoted as “the third most powerful of their kind in the world.” A small railroad serving the hotel, known as the “dummy-line”, carried spa-goers from the West Main train station to the hotel.

Wonderland, a menagerie, was also on the site. The Wonderland offerings expanded to include the first moving picture shows in Charlottesville. In 1920 J. Russell Dettor purchased the land. In a grassy hollow under magnificent shade trees he built a concrete swimming pool almost 100 meters in length. The Fry’s Spring Beach Club opened for business in the summer of 1921. For over a decade the Fry’s Spring Beach Club was the only venue in town allowed to serve liquor to its patrons. It is no wonder that a common joke from this time was, “Charlottesville is divided into two parts: Charlottesville proper, and Fry’s Spring improper!”

Currently the club is a bit shabby but still has loads of class. You can’t go in unless you are a member, but the springs are accessible outside the chain link fence. Follow the fence to the right of the pool entrance, push past all the poison ivy, to arrive at a gully. There you can see iron stained spring water, and the old stone and concrete structures once used to channel and hold the spring water.

There is much more to see. Plantations, estates, an observatory, a nuclear reactor, the house where the lady claiming to be Anastasia lived, the mysterious house on the hill overlooking Charlottesville that looks like Monticello that was not built by a student rejected by UVA. But I think your guests have seen enough of an insiders Charlottesville for today, and will soon go back home to Blacksburg spreading tales of the other wonders of Charlottesville.
(A useful reference is the Historic Charlottesville Tour Book, available at The New Dominion Book Shop. It has 10 walking and driving tours of Charlottesville. Some of the material and pictures for this article came from it.)
Other picture credits:
Wick Hunt
Holsinger Studio Collection, UVa Special Collections Library
The McCue murder : complete story of the crime and the famous trial of the ex-mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. By By James H. Lindsay and John S. Patton.

Wick Hunt