Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-23
FIFTYlYEARs AGoN SAVANNAH
The Hotels and Boarding Houses of
That Time-The Landlords and Their
Guests-Interesting Incidents.
Dondencs Of Me Morning Neaos.

Guests-Interesting Incidents.
Correspondence Of the Morning Neaos.
ATLANTA, March 1S.-My letter Of Feb
ruary ., relative to an event Of forty years
ago, written because OF the important or
interesting persons connected Herewith,
causes me to recur to events Of fifty or
more years ago, which may sustain a re-
lation to those Of the present time. Promi-
nent among such are. the old hotels of
your city. The progress of events, or the
''gnawing tooth of time" have finally dis
posed Of all, so there is not one extant
now which had name and a fame then.
The efforts to construct a new and first
class hotel of sufficient capacity at the
site of the United States Barracks. re-
minds me that of your three frst-class no
tells but one in its entirety was originally
built for hotel. That is the Marshall
House. The old part of the Pulaski
House fifty and more years ago was Mrs.
Battey's boarding house, and the old part
Of the Screyen House was Mrs. Platt's
boarding house. These were two of the
many really frst-class boarding houses
then fiOurishing in Savannah, Mrs. Bat
u anu ID l. Adbb htlC We'll hnOM0 anu
highly esteemed ladies of the city. and
their houses were the homes OF elegant
ladies and gentlemen. The first named
was the mother of Alfred NJ. Battev,
West Point cadet or graduate,
who afterwards became a Methodist min
lister and died at an early age. Mrs. Plat
was an aunt OF Rev. DIR. Plat, an emf
nent EpiscOpalian clergyman. She was
lady of imposing presence, and would at
a -,r,,.o 81. 7
give these ladies particular mention be-
cause first class hotel accommodations
were then quite limited, and citizens and
strangers had to baYe recourse to board
ing houses. The two named were the
most central and prominent. | suppose.
in the course of nature, both of these use
full and admirable ladies have long since
crested from their labOrs," and are now
enjoying that happiness which is the re-
ward Of the faithful. ! never saw Mrs.
Battey as l can recall. There was a
memorable event connected with her and
her house. The house was that part of
the Pulaski that lcdS called the Ladies'
Ordinary" From there to Whitaker
street, on both sides of Bryan, there were
wooden houses. In the house, a large
wooden one, on the northeast corner of
Bryan and Whitaker, fire broke out on
Christmas day, 1888. 1t was about noon.
Much preparation had been made for an
extra elegant Christmas dinner. But that
was one of the very few instances where
fine dinner was prepared that, in COM
mon parlance, never 'came off, 1t was
ofcourse a great disappointment, but there
was abundant consolation in the fact that
the house and most of the furniture were
saved if the fine dinner was lost. That
was really one of those occasions at
fire we sometimes hear OF, where fine
furniture was thrown from up stairs to
the street to meet the same fate it would
have received from the fire-that is, des-
tructiOn. | viii not assert that the tradi-
tional looking-glasses and other glass or
crockery were so thrown, but i will as
sert that the servants and others were so
wild and panicked as to have done it. 1t
was said 1t was done. As it was Christ
mas day, it may be that beginning with
egg-nog early in the morning, and taking
other drinks appropriate to the time of
day, may have added to if it did not pro-
duce the Generalization. 1t at least
furnishes fact for a prohibition argu-
ment.
At that time the only two hotels in the
city were the City Hotel, on Bay street,
between Bull and Whitaker, and the Man.
sion House, on the northwest corner of
BrOughtOn and Whitaker, fronting on the
latter, and extending to the lane. The
first named was a small brick structure;
the latter was a large wooden one, with
double piazzas the full length of the house.
The City Hotel was most patrOniZed by
the wealthy and refined, and the Mansion
House by those less so. They were both
for a period under the prOprietorship
of Capt. Peter Wiltberger. He then
had monopoly in the hotel
business at Savannah, which he retained
for many yo0re Later lac. bought tf,ts
1Dv=fVr h,VR
down to and including Mrs. Battey's
boarding house. He put one or two stO-
ries on the part from the latter named
to the corner, and up Bull street to the
lane, and called it all the ''Pulaski
House." There were two dining rooms.
The one on the west end he called the ''la-
dies ordinary" the one on the east end
"gentlemen's ordinary" Afterwards he
relinquished the Mansion House, but l
think for some time he managed them all.
He kept up the City Hotel for some time,
but aristOcratic headquarters became
changed from the City Hotel to the Pu-
lash House. Nevertheless the fOunda-
ton of Captain Wiltberger's fortune was
made at the City Hotel, and for hospitality,
good cheer and cOnviViality l doubt if the
more pretentiOus Pulaski ever became
quite equal to the jolly little City Hotel,
under the management Of Captain Wilt
berger.
SAVANNAH THEN HAD ONLY A POPULA
TION
of seven thousand. The extreme south
ern limit Of the city was the north side
of Liberty street, but the little city had a
in the sea island cotton, rice
and lumber trade. The wealthy planters
of the Savannah Con both Sides, the
Ogeechee, the Altamaha, the St. lila, and
the st. Mary's rivers and the sea
islands, to the Florida line, very literally
patrOniZed the hotel. There were large
numbers of wealthy young men of the
city and from the counties of Bryan, Lib
erty, Mcintosh, Glynn and Camden who
passed large portion of their time at the
City Hotel. An important feature of the
hotel, as heretofore of all hotels, was the
bar, where were dispensed a great variety
of delicious but Intoxicating drinks.
These we may call the bdRe, but the anti
dote was near. In door or two at the
corner of Whitaker was RyersOn's drug
store, and the transition from one to the
other, as choice or necessity required, was
easy. Ryerson was called by his friends
Tom, and it is to be supposed he was a
good social man, who made a large profit
out Of Peter Wiltberger's refined and ac-
complished guests: Besides the we'll
known drugs useful i'm such cases, he had
mineral waters most abundantly, Con-
gress and soda. The soda water brewed
by Tom RyersOn was very fine. 1t was
the finest in the city. 1t was the finest in
the whole country. So fine was it it had,
like all other celebrities animate or mani
mate, q national reputation. The mere
memory of Tom Ryerson's soda water
to a man who ever experienced the
luxury Of drinking it is better than actu-
ally drinking some of the stuff that now
goes by that name. The old men drinkers
of soda water of Savannah will tell you
there is no soda water now as good as
that Ryerson made. The art he had must
now add another to the list of lost ones.
a few old citizens can now recall the
many wealthy, stylish and accomplished
young men who passed the most
or large part of their time
at the City Hotel. They largely
helped to make Peter Wiltberger rich.
With little study 1 could name a dozen,
perhaps twenty, the most OF whom died
the early death that ends a fast life. Then
there were older, steadier men-business
men, who went North III summer, and
passed the business season in Savannah.
They were Northern men, sometimes
called Yankees. The large majority
of the merchants then of Savan-
nah were either Northerners or for
eigners. Among the former there can
be found no better style of men than
Loami Baldwin, Elias Reed, Elias Bliss,
George Hall, John w. Long, Wilson Full
MocnS EaSfnan Opathan (1Iunetood