The Books

Richmond Memories – The Taverns and Hotels of Nonsuch

The hotels of Richmond, Virginia are modern examples of the abundant hospitality of the old colonial taverns such as the Bell, Swan, Union and the Eagle. They also have the spacious beauty of the Exchange and Ballard hotels of the 1860s. There have been famous hostelries continuously in Richmond since the establishment of its first tavern, Richard Leven’s Tavern, in 1717.

Taverns, in the early days, served Richmond’s visitors and residents as places of residence and resort. Upper floors were divided up into sleeping rooms. Taverns and the later hotels, tended to be built near places where visitors gathered for business or disembarked from wagons or the trains and automobiles of later years.

All the early taverns are gone. The grand old Richmond hotels have mostly disappeared.  Only one remains, The Jefferson. The Hotel Richmond, Hotel John Marshall and Hotel William Byrd are still standing, albeit for a different use.

To understand the development of taverns and hotels in Richmond, one must first understand the design, development and construction of the city and its early neighborhoods and commercial areas.

In 1609, two years after English colonists founded Jamestown, Captain John Smith established a settlement called Nonsuch on land acquired from the Powhatan Confederacy.  The spot was near the falls of what colonists called the James River and the native tribes’ confederacy called Powhatan. Both names honor each group’s respective king. 

Smith described the location as “No place we knew so strong, so pleasant and delightful in Virginia, for which we called it Nonsuch”.   With fertile land and riverfront access, Nonsuch was a successful inland port for colonial Virginia.  In 1733, the surrounding area was established as the town that would eventually become Virginia’s capital, Richmond.

So the story begins in the beginning, shortly after the establishment of Jamestown.

Robert Coleman of Charles City Shire

The American Odyssey of the Coleman brothers, all from England, began in 1637 with the arrival of Robert Coleman. Robert was named as one of forty headrights of Colonel William Farrar II. This odyssey is described in three volumes, “Robert Coleman of Charles City Shire”.

While some 1,932 descendants and related family members of Robert Coleman are included in the three volume book, those in the states of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina are particularly highlighted.

The author’s objective is to help the reader develop insights into the soul and the day-to-day life of Coleman family members. The hundreds of family member photographs add much to these insights since “the eyes are the windows to the soul”. In addition, since the soul of architecture is closely integrated with the souls of the inhabitants who interact within the space they occupy, the pictures of Coleman family homes are likewise “windows to the soul”. Lastly, it was once said that, “Purity of writing is purity of the soul”. Thus, the handwriting samples in this book add to the reader’s understanding of the Coleman soul.

“Family genealogical histories can range from fanciful collections of myth and supposition to detailed works of historic research. James M Coleman’s book is clearly in the latter category” as per Robert P. Winthrop, a partner at Winthrop, Jenkins, and Associates, a Virginia based architecture firm specializing in historic renovation. Historic buildings have been Mr. Winthrop’s focus in numerous writings and lectures.

The Author

Growing up in Richmond, James Michael Paschall Coleman, the author, has strong family ties to Virginia. Coleman became interested in researching his family and its ties to Amelia County, Virginia and Warren County, North Carolina, through his father, James Michael Paschall Coleman, Jr.

The elder Coleman worked for his great-uncle, Lee Paschall, who founded Wise Construction Company of Richmond, and was President of Richmond Hotels, Inc.

For the book, Robert Coleman of Charles City Shire, the author gathered more than 400 photographs of Coleman family members, homes, businesses and other structures connected with the family. Some photographs were found by members of the family, while others were taken by Coleman or other family members. Some of these photographs were taken by Judge Valentine W. Southall, and can be found in Collection of Photos of Amelia County Homes, at the Amelia County Historical Society.  Among those collected are an 1862 photograph of Capt. Levi Coleman and a family photograph taken in the 1870s.

For the book, Richmond Memories, the author recounts with joy his “Richmond Memories” of the great hotels of the 1950s.  He is intimately familiar with them, not only as a citizen of Richmond but also the nephew of the Richmond hotelier, Lee Paschall.

To better appreciate these memories the author set about to understand the founding and growth of Richmond (once called Nonsuch) and its hospitality industry.

His keenest memories were threefold. Sunday lunches at the Hotel Richmond dining room were a treat.  The food served on tables covered with white linen was, of course, memorable.  In addition, the exit from the hotel elevator into the dining room anteroom, filled with paintings of 1860 – 1865 battle scenes, was especially memorable to a young boy.

Lastly, there was the glorious nighttime view from the top of Cary Street at the turn down the hill into Richmond with the bright, lighted, rooftop signs from the roofs of the Hotel John Marshall, and the Hotel Richmond plus the glow of Broad Street.

Both these hotels along with the Hotel William Byrd , the Hotel King Carter and the Chamberlin Hotel at Old Point Comfort, Virginia were owned and operated by Richmond Hotels, Inc. Richmond Hotels, Inc. was led by Lee Paschall, originally from Wise, North Carolina.  Lee Paschall’s sister was married to the author’s great-grandfather.

The author earned an undergraduate degree in engineering operations from North Carolina State University in Raleigh and a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and began his research on the Coleman family in the year 2000. He utilized the libraries at UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State University, the Library of Virginia in Richmond, the State Library of North Carolina in Raleigh, the Richmond Public Library and The National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Contact The Author

James Michael Paschall Coleman, the author, can be contacted for questions concerning his books and research via the following email address: jamesmpcoleman@gmail.com. In addition, all books are available in digital format from the author.