Exchange Hotel (Gordonsville, Virginia)

Infobox_nrhp | name = Exchange Hotel
nrhp_type =nhl


caption =
nearest_city= Gordonsville, Virginia
lat_degrees =
long_degrees =
area =
built = 1860
architect= unknown
architecture= Georgian
added = August 14, 1973
governing_body = Museum
refnum =

Exchange Hotel in Gordonsville, Virginia, was built in 1860 for Richard F. Omohundro next to an important railroad junction, when the Exchange Hotel offered a welcome stopping place for weary passengers on the Virginia Central Railway.

Civil War

In March 1862, because of its strategic location, the Exchange Hotel became part of the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital, admitting more than 23,000 sick and wounded in less than a year. The wounded and dying from nearby battlefields such as Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Trevilian Station, Mine Run, Brandy Station, and the Wilderness were brought by the trainloads. Although this was primarily a Confederate facility, the hospital treated the wounded from both sides. Twenty-six Union soldiers died here. By war's end more than 70,000 men had been treated at the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital and just over 700 would be buried on its surrounding grounds. The scene of untold agony and death, the building survived the conflict.

After the war

In the reconstruction period, this hospital served the newly freed slaves as a Freedman's Bureau Hospital. As the United States healed and the railroads boomed, this graceful building again became a hotel and enjoyed a fine reputation until the 1940s when it went into decline.

Museum

Historic Gordonsville, Inc. acquired and restored the property in 1971. The Hotel as been acknowledged as an African-American Memorial Site in June of 2002. The museum contains many artifacts from the Civil War Era like; Medical artifacts, Uniforms and Firearms. The museum also houses a bookstore.

ee also

*List of Registered Historic Places in Virginia

References

* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/journey/exc.htm Information on the Exchange Hotel from the NPS website]

External links

*http://www.hgiexchange.org/index.htm