VGHRS Investigation of the Civil War Museum at the
Exchange Hotel
Background Report
The Exchange Hotel derived the name from its location near a convergence of two railroad lines, the Virginia Central and the Orange & Alexandria. Here passengers and freight would be transferred or "exchanged" from one line to the other. Built in 1860 on the site of an 1840's era tavern that had burned down in 1859, the hotel was designed to accomodate the more well-to-do travellers in the bustling days of passenger train traffic through Gordonsville. In March of 1862, the Army of the Confederacy transformed the Exchange Hotel into the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital.
The wounded and dying from nearby battlefields were brought in by the trainloads. By war's end over 70,000 men had been treated at the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital. Although primarily a Confederate facility, the hospital provided care for the wounded from both sides. Over 700 are known to have died at the site, this number includes some 26 Union soldiers. The dead were originally buried on the surrounding grounds, however their bodies were later reinterred (circa 1870's?) at the Maplewood Cemetary about a mile away.
After the war, the building soon flourished as a hotel once again. An interesting historical marker on the site depicts the local "chicken vendors", newly freed black women who sold fried chicken to passengers right through the windows of trains stopped at the nearby depot, thus earning Gordonsville the nickname "Fried Chicken Capital of the World". In the late 1800's new railroad lines bypassing Gordonsville were built and soon after that, the Exchange Hotel ceased operation. The building served for a time as a private residence and then as an apartment building from the 1920's through 1950's. Later the building was abandoned, housing only the occassional transients and vandals. In 1971 concerned citizens formed Historic Gordonsville, Inc. and initiated the rescue and restoration project that has established a museum, historical site and visitor center that is well deserving of its listings in the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.
The building has three floor levels but is considered to be "two story with an English basement". It stands somewhat elevated above and overlooking the business distict of Gordonsville. It is just off SR 33 and within 100 feet of a railroad track that is still in use, primarily by freight trains. It's known that many other structures once stood on the adjacent grounds but the only other building that remains today is "The Old Kitchen". The Old Kitchen is a 2-story brick building believed to be contempory with the original tavern and thus older than the Exchange Hotel building itself. There may have been a covered walkway connecting these two structures at one time.
Anecdotal reports of strange occurrences at the Exchange seem to be plentiful and go back in time as long as anyone can remember. One relatively recent story involves two Gordonsville policemen who, while parked in their car at night in a lot on the far side of Route 33, looked into the front of the Hotel building to see a light moving up the interior staircase and into the hallway of the upper floor. One board member spoke of feeling a mysterious sensation that nearly "took his breath away" once when crossing the threshold from one room to another. Others have witnessed a mysterious bluish glow from time to time emanating from an upstairs window at night "as if a TV set was on" in the room. This is the same room where unexplained flickering shadows were recently witnessed by several board members and site volunteers. It's also the room where a lady tourist and her daughters had a conversation with a man who told them that he lived in that room and had been there for a long time - of course this man did not actually exist.
The Old Kitchen building has its share of mysterious occurences as well. A bookkeeper whose office was located there now refuses to walk in the area between the two buildings early in the morning because of recurring feelings of uneasiness she's experienced there at that time of day. One visitor claims to have witnessed the image of "a young black man, hanging from the ceiling" in one of the upstairs rooms. She added that her impression was that this was related to a suicide.
One of the more vividly detailed reports of a mysterious incident comes first hand from a volunteer who was preparing to lead a tour group one day. Through the window of the ground floor gift shop she noticed a man dressed in gray who was making his way on crutches toward the front of the building. Thinking he must be coming to visit the museum, she went out to open the door for him but he had vanished, seemingly into thin air.
Information in this report was provided by Sharon Compton, Tim Burnett and the Museum visitor's brochure.
For more information on the Civil War Museum at the Exchange
Hotel see http://www.hgiexchange.org
For more details about the early days of Gordonsville & its
significance as a railroad town see: http://www.piedmontsub.com/Gville.shtml
To hear HGI Board President Tim Burnett recount his friend's "vision of a suicide", refresh this page with speakers on.