If You Think Burning the Turkey is Bad...

Joined
Nov 26, 2016
Location
central NC
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(Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection)
The majestic Zinzendorf Hotel opened in the spring of 1892. At a cost of $150,000, it was the most expensive building ever built in central North Carolina. The photo above shows the Zinzendorf Hotel under construction in Winston-Salem, NC. The photographer, Tom Hege, is visible in the lower left part of the photo, pulling a string to take the picture (gotta be one of the earliest selfies taken). The line you can see in the right corner of the photo is reportedly a crack in what was a glass negative.

On Nov. 24, 1892, a Thanksgiving Day fire burned the Zinzendorf Hotel to the ground. Firefighters were there quickly after the fire began in the hotel's laundry room, but the hydrant near the hotel did not have enough water pressure to fight the blaze. Firefighters were left to help carry out what furnishings and other items could be saved. Those furnishings are seen in the photo below scattered on the Zinzendorf's lawn.

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(Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection)
A crowd gathered to watch the Zinzendorf Hotel burn on Thanksgiving Day. The hotel had been open only six months. The shape of the home of Confederate General W. R. Boggs can barely be seen in the background of the photo below.

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(Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection)
 
That time period was the time period of large hotels up and down the seacoast from New England to the Carolinas - and also the time of big fires! Imagine the one spark that sets these things off - it sure doesn't take much.

There is still one grand hotel left (Star Island) on the Ilse of Shoals off of NH. It is used as a retreat center now in the late spring through the early fall. You can take the day ferry and go out and spend a day and we've done it before - it's about 9 miles off the coast. NO cigarettes, fireworks or anything of the sort - believe me! There was another grand hotel on Appledore Island that burnt too. It was seen for miles and miles when that went down.
 
That time period was the time period of large hotels up and down the seacoast from New England to the Carolinas - and also the time of big fires! Imagine the one spark that sets these things off - it sure doesn't take much.

There is still one grand hotel left (Star Island) on the Ilse of Shoals off of NH. It is used as a retreat center now in the late spring through the early fall. You can take the day ferry and go out and spend a day and we've done it before - it's about 9 miles off the coast. NO cigarettes, fireworks or anything of the sort - believe me! There was another grand hotel on Appledore Island that burnt too. It was seen for miles and miles when that went down.


There is a grand hotel (the Grand Hotel) on Mackinac Island in Michigan, surrounded by Lake Huron. It was built in 1887. A railroad and a steamship company formed a partnership to build it in order to sell fares to people from Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, and other Great Lakes cities. Thomas Edison (who was from Michigan) did something historic on this Grand Hotel's porch. It's still open. It hasn't burned down yet.
 
Roof looks to be slate and alot of it. Slate was probably sourced out of Delta, PA. Same quarries that supplied of the construction of Biltmore (confirmed it with the Biltmore archives). It was constructed during the same time. Delta slate is high end high quality stuff.
 
There is a grand hotel (the Grand Hotel) on Mackinac Island in Michigan, surrounded by Lake Huron. It was built in 1887. A railroad and a steamship company formed a partnership to build it in order to sell fares to people from Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, and other Great Lakes cities. Thomas Edison (who was from Michigan) did something historic on this Grand Hotel's porch. It's still open. It hasn't burned down yet.

It's beautiful! Not that we had rooms booked there, we stayed in a smaller (but also very nice!) hotel on the island, but we had a very noble Afternoon High Tea there!
 
It's beautiful! Not that we had rooms booked there, we stayed in a smaller (but also very nice!) hotel on the island, but we had a very noble Afternoon High Tea there!

Tourists who aren’t guests can pay $10 to go onto the premises and take a look-see. I walked onto the premises and took a bunch of photos of it.

We take day trips to Mackinac Island almost every summer.
 
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