Jump to content

Bobo Hotel

Coordinates: 35°17′03″N 86°22′10″W / 35.28417°N 86.36944°W / 35.28417; -86.36944 (Bobo Hotel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bobo Hotel
The hotel in 2014
Bobo Hotel is located in Tennessee
Bobo Hotel
LocationMain Street, Lynchburg, Tennessee
Coordinates35°17′03″N 86°22′10″W / 35.28417°N 86.36944°W / 35.28417; -86.36944 (Bobo Hotel)
Area1.7 acres (0.69 ha)
Built1867 (1867)
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No.94000283[1]
Added to NRHPApril 7, 1994

The Bobo Hotel, also known as Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House and Grand Central Hotel, is a historic hotel and boarding house in Lynchburg, Tennessee. It was built for a Confederate veteran, and it later belonged to relatives of the owners of Jack Daniel's. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

[edit]

The hotel was built in 1867 for Dr. E Y. Salmon, a physician who served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War of 1861–1865.[2] The second floor served as the Moore County courthouse from 1872 to 1880, while Salmon was county clerk/master.[2] Salmon became a Freemason, and he later moved to Nashville, where he died in 1914.[2]

From 1908 to 1982, the hotel belonged to Jack and Mary Evans Bobo, who ran it as a boarding house.[2] The husband died in 1948, and the wife became the sole proprietor.[3] One of her tenants was Tom Motlow, whose uncle was the eponymous founder of Jack Daniel's, the whiskey distillery.[2] In 1907, Jack Daniels gave his nephew Lem Motlow (also Mary's brother in law) and his cousin Dick Daniel the distillery when his health began to fail. Lem was also a state representative.[3] Bobo refused to serve whiskey in her boarding house.[3] She died in 1983, at age 101.[3] The Jack Daniels Distillery purchased the restaurant at that point and continued to operate it.[4]

Architectural significance

[edit]

The building was designed in the Greek Revival architectural style.[2] It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since April 7, 1994.[1]

Further reading

[edit]
  • Bobo, Mary (1994). Mitchamore, Pat; Tolley, Lynne (eds.). Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House Cookbook: A Celebration of Traditional Southern Dishes That Made Miss Mary Bobo's an American Legend. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson. ISBN 9781558533141. OCLC 862972624.

References

[edit]