Civil War Hotel Key Fob Found in Jackson, MS

Just imagine what's next.

:bounce:

Back to the relic.

And you're correct. Jackson was a crossroad of two major railroads.
That relic could have come from anywhere.

My gut feeling is that . . . more than likely. . . it's from another Deep South City.
I would think RS hotel is the actual name of the Hotel instead of an abbreviation, but who knows. I love a mystery.
 
Unfortunately I can't find any city directories for the era we're looking at and the newspapers I've looked at (so far) have turned up nothing. I'm not giving up yet though....
 
Wild card here Tom .
There is a Ravenden Springs In Lawrence county Arkansas. It’s in the NE corner of the state, I believe on the West Bank of the Big Muddy.
If we can come up with a Ravenden Springs hotel in the 19 th century we might have a hit.
I am not familiar with Jackson, but since it was a RR hub, and not on the river it would be feasible someone came part of the way to Jackson by boat, then train
All of course is a huge stab in the dark
 
Wild card here Tom .
There is a Ravenden Springs In Lawrence county Arkansas. It’s in the NE corner of the state, I believe on the West Bank of the Big Muddy.
If we can come up with a Ravenden Springs hotel in the 19 th century we might have a hit.
I am not familiar with Jackson, but since it was a RR hub, and not on the river it would be feasible someone came part of the way to Jackson by boat, then train
All of course is a huge stab in the dark
It's a possibility. Thanks for finding this. I'll look into Ravenden Springs and see if there's a hotel.
 
My observations so far - using the word hotel in the name of a hotel is pretty unusual until about 1905. Before that most hotels are called "something" house, though they may use hotel as an adjective in the description. But by 1910 hotel in the name is quite common. Looking at the Jackson paper there are lots of hotel ads - people obviously travelled enough that these made sense for the advertisers. The hotels being advertised were all over the USA. In the 1880s several articles mentioned how Jackson needed more hotels, especially uptown. New hotels get press too and travel articles name and review the hotels used by their authors.

I had thought at first our problem would be too many possibilities but so far I haven't seen anything with a R S. I did see an ad for Ravenden Springs but the establishment was The Southern Hotel.
 
I did think that springs was a likely word and found a mention of a hotel at Rawls Springs, near Hattiesburg. There was a hotel there when visiting the springs was popular. Maybe our RS?
 
I did think that springs was a likely word and found a mention of a hotel at Rawls Springs, near Hattiesburg. There was a hotel there when visiting the springs was popular. Maybe our RS?
Very good point !

Before I read your post, I started thinking about Rocky Springs, a town about 40 miles away near Port Gibson. But seems the only hotel there was named the Red House Inn.

In 1796, Mayburn Cooper was the first to settle in the area. Later, a man named Isaac Powers, a planter and large slave-holder, built the famous Red House Inn, one of four stops on the Natchez Trace in Claiborne County. He took in all manner of travelers, including the good and the bad.
 
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My observations so far - using the word hotel in the name of a hotel is pretty unusual until about 1905. Before that most hotels are called "something" house, though they may use hotel as an adjective in the description.
Very good point !

Before I read your post, I started to think about about Rocky Springs, a town about 40 miles away near Port Gibson. But seems the only hotel there was named the Red House Inn.

In 1796, Mayburn Cooper was the first to settle in the area. Later, a man named Isaac Powers, a planter and large slave-holder, built the famous Red House Inn, one of four stops on the Natchez Trace in Claiborne County. He took in all manner of travelers, including the good and the bad.
 
I did think that springs was a likely word and found a mention of a hotel at Rawls Springs, near Hattiesburg. There was a hotel there when visiting the springs was popular. Maybe our RS?
I grew up in Hattiesburg. Rawls Springs is my old stomping ground. A 31+ room hotel would but very unlikely there. It was a small logging community. But, hey, you never know. Just down the road was a place called "Mammoth Springs" which was a health springs resort on the Bouie River.
 
Yes, and there was not railroad near Rocky Springs.
 
I grew up in Hattiesburg. Rawls Springs is my old stomping ground. A 31+ room hotel would but very unlikely there. It was a small logging community. But, hey, you never know. Just down the road was a place called "Mammoth Springs" which was a health springs resort on the Bouie River.
I'm going to looking further into Rawls Springs. I'm actually going there Sunday.
 
I grew up in Hattiesburg. Rawls Springs is my old stomping ground. A 31+ room hotel would but very unlikely there. It was a small logging community. But, hey, you never know. Just down the road was a place called "Mammoth Springs" which was a health springs resort on the Bouie River.
Yeah, I can relate.

My Mom grew up in rural Lawrence County near what once was a logging community known as Rials Switch.
Another " R S ", but way too small for any hotel.
 
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I grew up in Hattiesburg. Rawls Springs is my old stomping ground. A 31+ room hotel would but very unlikely there. It was a small logging community. But, hey, you never know. Just down the road was a place called "Mammoth Springs" which was a health springs resort on the Bouie River.
My Moms family was from Eastabuchie and Moselle spent many a summer there. As I suggested earlier the Michelin Guide has ALL the hotels and RR listed.
 
My Moms family was from Eastabuchie and Moselle spent many a summer there. As I suggested earlier the Michelin Guide has ALL the hotels and RR listed.
One of my best friends was from the Rainey Community up there in Moselle. We found tons of arrowheads around there growing up (especially across from the TV station). Our quest was to one day locate the lost guns and treasure from Newt Knight....lol
 
One of my best friends was from the Rainey Community up there in Moselle. We found tons of arrowheads around there growing up (especially across from the TV station). Our quest was to one day locate the lost guns and treasure from Newt Knight....lol
I'm definitely going to check out the Michelin Guide
 
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