Got up this morning after Daddy’s birthday party & decided to run down to Lynchburg, Haven’t really been there in a long time & am just hit with a longing to go & see what’s what. I have so many wonderful memories of visits there to see my grandparents, Crutch (Ervin) & Louise Crutcher & my great- grandmother, Mama Bobo. Mama’s name was Mary, but almost everybody just called her Mama.
Mama owned the boarding house in town & ran it for years. In 1908 she & her husband, Jack (Lacy Jackson) bought & opened the Bobo Hotel. As far back as I can remember, it was always referred to as the Hotel, but it was a boarding house not a hotel. For many years, Mama fed guests of Jack Daniel’s Distillery there at dinner time. The dinner bell would be rung & everybody that was eating would go in to sit down. The tables of distillery guests always had a woman from Lynchburg as their hostess. She would encourage talk, answer questions, make sure everybody had plenty to eat & make it a pleasant experience. Meals were served family style with a waiter keeping full dishes on the table. The food was excellent and in the summer the vegetables came from a garden for the hotel.
We always sat at a round table in the corner in the dining room closest to the kitchen. Quite simply, it was called the family table. The only way you were seated there was if you were a relative, friend or invited guest of Mama’s. Quite simply, us kids loved it. When we finished eating, we would run into the kitchen to tell Mary Lou, Dill & the other cooks that it was good & off we would run. A favorite spot of mine was Mama’s private quarters “playing the piano”. I put that in quotes because I didn’t & don’t now play the piano. In actuality, I banged away on it. But it was grand fun.
Lynchburg Courthouse
Brown Foreman, the current owner of both Jack Daniel’s Distillery & Mama’s boarding house, just finished restoring the boarding house. That was one of things I wanted to see. First, I parked downtown & Sarah & I walked around the town square & wandered in a few shops. It has changed so much from when I was young & was allowed to walk to town by myself on visits. In fact, the only thing on the square that is still there besides the courthouse is Farmer’s Bank! Nothing else remains from my childhood.
The Bobo Hotel as it has been restored by Brown Foreman.
After that, due to the cold, we got back into the van & drove to the hotel. From the outside, I can only say they did a beautiful job. It looks grand. It was open so we wandered inside. I was overwhelmed with memories. However, I will admit that I was very upset to find Mama Bobo’s private living quarters a gift shop. I have to admit that business-wise it made good sense, but it did make me a bit sorry I had gone inside. That’s what’s wrong with going back to important places from our past. What is important to us, probably isn’t to others & may well be totally changed or changed in ways we don’t like. I have to say though that I am grateful to Brown Foreman for restoring the hotel.
My grandparent's home & I have many happy memories of it.
Tags: business, child, cook, corn, family, food, Louise Crutcher, Mama Bobo, pears, Sarah, Spears, vegetables