The Hotel
The hotel at Pacolet Mills was a
landmark for many years. It was located at the top of
its namesake, "hotel hill", near Victor Park and across
the road from the Pacolet
Mills Elementary School. The hotel was built about
1920 and torn down during the 1960's. The hotel was
originally known as The Victor Inn and served as a
residence for the teachers of the elementary school and
some officials of the mill. Later it became a boarding
house and a regular hotel.
The picture of the hotel above
was used as the front cover of Volume 1 - The
History of Pacolet.
The open porch and rocking chairs of the hotel.
The following newspaper article was
in the Spartanburg Herald Journal on April 16, 1951
(Courtesy of the Pacolet Museum).
(I received an email from R. D. Lumpkin
that gave the following interesting information about
the hotel based on his personal experience with it.)
The Victor Inn was torn
down in the early 60's.
My parents moved away from Pacolet in 1959
while I was a senior at Pacolet High. I lived in
the old hotel until after my graduation. I was
back often in 1960 for visits and stayed at the
hotel
I lived in the old hotel from June 1958 to
September 1959, while finishing Pacolet High
School. During that time, I worked at
Brown's Store part time. After graduating
Pacolet High, I relocated to Atlanta to continue
school.
On the weekends, after moving to Atlanta, I
would return and Blanche would have my old room
ready for me. She was a true delight and
pleasure to be around. She and her son lived on
the first floor. Her son, (Olin - [Bot] ) had a
hammock on the first floor porch where he slept
during the summer. Blanche also managed the Café in the Filling Station.
The building was four stories. The first
floor was for the resident manager, Blanche
Arnold and her family. The second floor
consisted of the big porch, main entry, kitchen,
and large dining room. The third and fourth
floors were for the guests. The rooms were large
and each floor shared a large bath room with
several shower stalls. Floors were heart of pine
with walls and ceilings tongue and groove.
The dining room was open to the public, three
meals per day Monday-Friday and lunch on
Saturday, the food was excellent.
Looking at the picture, my room was on the
left corner above the porch (third floor). There
were only three full time guests. Most of the
guests were there on the weekends.
This web site has
been started as a public service to share the story of
Pacolet.