Kingstree's Hotels, Part 1

In these days when it's relatively easy to get from one destination to another, we tend to forget how important the availability of overnight lodging was to those who came before us. In the very early days, Williamsburg County men who were called to serve on jury duty had to be prepared to stay in Kingstree for the week. According to Dr. Samuel Davis McGill in his reminiscences, those who were attending court set up camps outside the town limits. After a day in the courtroom, they'd descend upon the local "grog shop," where they "obstructed the street and thronged the doorway of the store, keeping half a dozen clerks passing decanters and tumblers to the men and receiving the money. ...In the evening, most of the crowd left for camps outside the town limits, whooping, shouting, and brandishing a 'black betty' or two, and attempt(ing) to walk the narrow footlogs extending across the Kingstree branch, while a few plunge(d) through the water, splashing it above their heads."

At least three different hotel buildings sat on this property on Main Street

 in the hundred years between the 1870s and the 1970s.

Kingstree's first hotel was likely either the Staggers Hotel or one run by Philip Heller, father of M.F. Heller. Where they were located is not easily determined from the few references to them. Mr. Heller  operated a barroom in connection with his hotel, and according to Dr. McGill, the Staggers Hotel was built by Robert B. Green, the most prominent house carpenter in Williamsburg County.

In the 1850s, George and Sarah "Sallie" Coleman came to Kingstree from England. The 1860 census notes that George Coleman's profession was that of a "ditcher." In 1862, Coleman enlisted in the Confederate Army. He survived the war and by 1870 was farming in Williamsburg County. We know that George Coleman already owned property on the north side of Main Street in 1873, as he was one of the property owners who suffered losses from the fire that engulfed that side of the street on January 27. Whether or not he was already operating a hotel there is unclear.

The 1880 census notes that he was a farmer and a merchant. His business was The Coleman House hotel, which would become the social hub of downtown Kingstree for many years to come. Living with the Colemans was another Englishman, 51-year-old Joseph Watson, whose occupation is listed as "clerk in bar." Whether he was the bartender at the Coleman House, or whether he worked in another bar is unknown.

The Coleman House was located across Main Street from the Williamsburg County Courthouse, and  one hotel or another occupied that property for almost 100 years. 

George Coleman died in 1883 and is buried in Williamsburg Cemetery. It appears that Sallie Coleman sold the hotel to William J. Lee and R.H Kellahan before she went back to England. She died in England on December 6, 1889. 

George Coleman's tombstone, Williamsburg Cemetery.

Bill and Virginia Lee also ran a very successful mercantile business in Kingstree, which she continued to operate after his death in 1895. A newspaper article published in 1898 about Kingstree's merchants noted that Virginia Lee had also presided over the Coleman House for 10 years.

In 1888, Lee and Kellahan were described as "mine hosts" of the Coleman House in a newspaper article describing Connecticut businessman Edward Malley's hunting trip to Kingstree in February of that year. 

R.H. Kellahan

George Barr took over the management of The Coleman House in 1896. He ran the hotel for two years before establishing Barr's Hotel, just across the street next door to the courthouse on the lot on which the eastern end of the Alex Chatman County Complex now sits. To read more about Barr's Hotel, please click here.

Barr catered to traveling salesmen as he had been a salesmen himself for a time. He renovated The Coleman House in 1897 before R.B. Lyons took over its management on January 1, 1898. At that time, the hotel had 13 rooms and a large, "handsome" dining room. It also had free hack service from the depot to the hotel.

By 1900, Charlotte Jones McCrea Chandler, who had served as Kingstree's postmistress, was the proprietor of the hotel. She had grown up on Main Street, possibly next door to the hotel building. Her father, Daniel Jones, also an Englishman, was a tailor, who, according to Dr. McGill, "occupied a fine store and residence in front of the court house." Her mother, Ann, is listed as one of the property owners who lost their property in the 1873 fire.

We know some of the employees of the Coleman Houses from mentions in The County Record. Jane Bird was one of the cooks there in 1900, when she was knocked down by the Rev. Steele's runaway horses and seriously hurt while walking home from work. Lizzie Brown, "Doctor" Harry Brown's wife, was for a number of years chief cook at the Coleman House, according to Bessie Britton.

The hotel was the scene of numerous dances and other gatherings for the people of Kingstree during its years of operation. Also, a number of businesses were run from the first floor of the hotel. In 1900, E.J. Aosten advertised a bicycle repair shop located at the rear of the Coleman Hotel. John D. Mouzon ran a barbershop from the hotel for several years in the early 1900s. Mouzon was also the leader of a string band, and they played for most of the dances held there in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Dr. R.J. McCabe's early dentist office was located in the Coleman Hotel, and Amelia Scott set up a dressmaking business at the hotel in 1903.

In 1904, W.J. Howard opened a repair shop in the hotel for watches, clocks, bicycles, sewing machines, guns, pistols, and jewelry. Also, in 1904, P.A. Alsbrook ran a grocery store and market on the first floor of the hotel building. 

Charlotte Chandler tombstone, Williamsburg Cemetery.

In December 1904, Charlotte Chandler ran an ad in The County Record announcing that she would have to raise the price of meals served at the hotel from 25 to 35 cents.

By late 1906, the old hotel had seen better days. Mrs. Chandler was ready to move on to other endeavors, and R.H. Kellahan announced that he would tear down the old hotel and build a new one at the same location. Herbert Van Keuren, a native of New York state, would move to Kingstree from Smith's Mills near Johnsonville to run the hotel, and it would be known as the Hotel Van Keuren.

NOTE:  Much appreciation and many thanks to Patty Herbert for finding the Coleman, Jones, and Chandler tombstones.