History of the "New Southern Hotel"
in Elizabeth City, NC

    
     The Southern Maryland Hotel in these stories is a fictional place, but, however, the New Southern Hotel once existed in Elizabeth City, NC. Here is a short history about the 1872 structure and its predecessors.

     Asa Rogerson opened the National Hotel in 1829. Four years later, in 1833, well-known and prosperous Perquimans County plantation owner James Leigh purchased the building and renamed it the "Mansion House." It was the center of town, and a popular place to host dances.

     Sadly, in 1852, the structure burned down, along with several other downtown businesses. Elizabeth City purchased its first fire engine and built a building to house it because of this big fire. In 1856, a forty-bedroom hotel named the "Leigh House" was opened in the old one's place.

     Confederates burned the Leigh House, the courthouse, and several other important buildings to keep them from the Union after the North won the Battle of Elizabeth City. A. P. Cone, an investor from Wellsboro, PA, and W. H. Smith of Elizabeth City built another hotel on the same property in 1872. On February 20, 1873, a grand-opening ball was held at the hotel. It was one of the largest hotels in North Carolina at the time.

     The original structure was a four-story brick stucco structure with two entrances, one from Road Street and the front entrance on Main Street. The structure was remodeled with a brick-face exterior in the 20s, but in the back the stucco is still visible (see picture). In 1902, Edwin F. Aydlet, an attorney/land developer, purchased the building and named it the Southern Hotel. His rennovations in 1925 led to the renaming, the "New" Southern Hotel. The hotel had bathrooms, electricity, and an elevator put in (although I'm not sure it didn't have electricity and plumbing before). There are gorgeous black-and-white marble floors consisting of tiny squares on the lobby floor. The entrance doors have beveled glass and fanlights. Ionic columns support the coffered ceiling in the lobby. The staircase has a banister ending in curved scrolls. The lobby at one point had colonial-style chandeliers.

     During the 1925 renovations, a parking garage, pressing room, gas station, and stores were constructed on the back of the hotel. During World War II, the ballroom on the second floor was split up to make it a 54-room hotel. A murder took place in the hotel back in the 1920s, although nobody we talked to who know about it has told us the story.

     Melvin Wright and Levin Culpepper sold the hotel in 1991. The upper residential rooms have been closed and untouched since then. It's rather sad how such a beautiful building could be let go so long. It would be nice if someone could buy it and fix it up to be just like it was a long time ago, and have it be profitable to keep it open. The days of marble floors and ballrooms in small-town hotels are long-gone, as people want the convenience of a low-cost, technologically advanced motel when traveling.

     When my family and I saw the hotel in July, 2005, it was on the real estate market for nearly a million dollars. Thursday, February 23, 2006, the hotel sold again for 200 thousand less than the original price. The new owner isn't quite sure what he wants to do with it, according to the Virginian-Pilot article (February 25), but he might spend a lot of money to turn it into offices or condominiums.

     I write these stories to remind people of the past simplicity and elegance of hotels such as these, as so few are still around and operating these days. These stories aren't just about the hotel, but the fictional people who keep it running and make years of memories from day-to-day life situations like lunch and chores to special balls and holiday celebrations to tragedies.

1. The property has been a hotel since 1829.
2. There have been three hotels on the same property.
3. Wilbur Wright stayed in the hotel in the early 1900s.
4. There are 33 windows on the front, 45 on the side (2nd-4th floors).
5. It used to be white stucco on the front, and some is still visible in the back.
6. The commercial space to the right of the lobby used to be a drugstore with lunch counter.
7. The ballroom was split into residential rooms during WW II.
8. There used to be a restaurant, cleaning, and pressing room.
9. Some of the rooms share bathrooms, while most have private bathrooms.
10. As of July, 2005, the last major remodeling for the residential space was done in 1930.