- (June 2007) GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Its owner Gen. James Longstreet would be pleased. So would President Woodrow Wilson's wife Ellen, who delivered a baby there. They knew the old Piedmont Hotel well and would be pleased that what remains of it is being restored.

Today's Piedmont is a shadow of its former self - once a large three-story hotel with two wings that filled a city block. The fact that one floor of one wing survives is a testament to local preservationists, one of whom is Richard Pilcher, president of The Longstreet Society.

The society bought the building in 1995, just a year after the group was founded by local architect Garland Reynolds. The society, which celebrates and studies the life of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, CSA, now has about 300 members.

Some of them will be in Gainesville on June 16 and 17 for their annual seminar and a low-key dedication of their new headquarters in the Piedmont. The hotel's grand opening will be a big event later in the year, says Pilcher.

The Early Years

It was long assumed that Longstreet bought the hotel as a going operation, but Pilcher says the hotel's builder ran out of money in 1874. Longstreet initially bought a half interest, and then assumed full ownership and the debts in 1875. He completed construction and opened the hotel in 1876.

The Longstreet Society recently learned some of these details. Longstreet wrote every document by hand and recorded every nail, board and everything on the property, says Pilcher. Longstreet disputed the interest charge on one lien, a claim from the seller's sister on the livery stable.

Longstreet told the seller that he owed the interest. It isn't known how the matter was resolved.

A newspaper ad announced the hotel's grand opening on June 13, 1876, with son John G. Longstreet as proprietor. Pilcher says that the local newspaper was Democratic and Longstreet was not liked in the South, in part because he became a Republican and supported voting rights for blacks, so he did not get much coverage.

Longstreet would go to the train station when he was in town and meet arrivals, tell them who he was and say he'd like to have their business.

Pilcher says the Piedmont Hotel dining room was famous for its chicken and claimed to have served the first batter-fried chicken.

During Longstreet's long postwar career in various federal offices, the Piedmont Hotel was his base. Among the guests were Confederate Gen. Joseph S. Johnston and Union Gen. Daniel Sickles.

An old photo of Longstreet in a rocker on the porch illustrates the upcoming seminar's title, "Politics ’Ķ from the Piedmont Porch."

Later Years

Mrs. Longstreet lived there, renting out rooms at the other end, until the 1960s. Her daughter Jamie, who is a member of the society, grew up there.

By 1994 what was left of the Piedmont was used for storage and was in bad shape from rot and termites. The new Longstreet Society bought it in early 1995 for $160,000.

About that time the roof fell in and rain caused damage before the roof could be tarped. The additional damage "made the task of restoring it much more difficult," Pilcher says.

In 1998 the society turned over the building and the debt to the Gainesville-Hall Trust for Historic Preservation, a new entity that grew out of the Longstreet and Hall County Historical societies. William L. North Jr., who felt that Gainesville needed an organization that could secure and restore historic buildings and sites, initiated the trust.

The trust's first project was the Piedmont Hotel. "We were just going nowhere raising money," says Pilcher. "People were leery of giving money because of the Civil War connection and none of us really knew how to raise money."

The change in ownership didn't lessen the Longstreet Society's commitment to the Piedmont. "Nothing has changed for us. Every little bit of money we make goes to the Piedmont project," says Pilcher. By the time the restoration is completed in mid-June it will have cost about half a million dollars, including the purchase price.

The hotel no longer sits on a city block. It's on about 20 percent of its former site and the rest is commercial property. A four-lane street passes in front.

The project has gotten notice and there is movement for redevelopment in that section of Gainesville. Pilcher says, "It looks like our effort will be productive in ways that we never expected."

The Longstreet Society will have an interpretive center in one of the Piedmont's six rooms.

The society hopes to staff its room with volunteers and be open every day. A self-guided tour map and brochures will be available.

The room where Ellen Louise Axson Wilson gave birth to daughter Jessie in 1887 will be furnished to that period. Pilcher explains that Mrs. Wilson's aunt, who gave assistance, lived nearby.

The room is known because Mrs. Wilson mailed postcard photos of the hotel with an arrow pointing to the window of her room.

The grandson of the doctor who delivered the baby has a letter Mrs. Wilson sent the doctor saying he was hired because he was the cheapest, but she was pleased with his services.

The restored Piedmont also includes bathrooms, a butler's pantry, a large community meeting room and a room that might be used by another group.

For information about the Longstreet Society and the June seminar see the ad in this issue or contact Pilcher at rpilcher@charter.net or go to