John Sewell Grew Up in a Hotel

Condensed from a chapter by Peggy W. Lowe
in "Hertford County Reflections," 1984,
published by the Hertford County Committee
for America's 400th Anniversary
~~~

Mr. John Sewell was a native of Murfreesboro and had an interesting life. His early years were spent living in his parents' hotel – The Sewell Hotel. His parents were Lila Rooke and Rinsalear Sewell and they built the house before he was born.

The hotel was a great big house that stood on Main Street across from the Baptist Church. The hotel had nine rooms. Each room had a small heater. In the winter, when John was a boy, his job was to go to all the rooms of the guests and make a fire. For this he would earn from two to five cents.

The Sewell Hotel had four rooms on the left side and two rooms on the right side of the main part in the center. There was a porch that connected all of them. A portion of the main part of the house is still standing today, but it has been moved back and faces Liberty Street.

The hotel served regular and special guests. Drummers (salesmen) came from Norfolk and Baltimore to spend a week and show their samples, which they displayed in the rooms off to the side for the merchants in town.

The hotel family had horses and buggies, and John and other family members drove the drummers around the countryside to sell their goods. They usually paid the boys $2 to carry them. They sold hardware and groceries and went to Conway, Pendleton, Boykins and Severn. They also took orders and sent the merchandise back by boat.

The hotel had two women who came in to cook. They'd arrive at 5 a.m. and start breakfast, and they fed about 10 to 15 people each morning. At that time they had ham and chicken every day, 365 days a year. After the drummers stopped coming, the hotel had couples, 10 or 15 of them, who would come regularly and eat dinner. It cost 50 cents. There were no restaurants in town, so eating at the Sewell House was really a treat. People came after church. The meals were served family style at a big, long table, and latecomers had to wait until there was a vacant place at the table.

Main Street in the early part of the 20th century was just a dirt road. Mud was plentiful and the first cars, as well as buggies, would mire up after a rain. It was not unusual to see a chicken stuck in the mud, because animals ran loose in the streets. People had to fence their yards to keep the animals out.

The first lights in town were on poles in the street. They were kerosene lights. There was only one policeman in town, and one of his jobs was to light the street lights. He would walk down the street about sunset and light them, and around 10 o'clock he returned to put them out. There was no jail in town, so prisoners had to be taken to Winton.

Mr. Ed Worrell ran a mill and owned the first electric company. When the town first had electricity, the lights would blink three times all over town around 10:30 p.m. This was a warning, and at 11 p.m. the lights would go out for the night. Mr. Worrell's mill was located at the edge of town on the Winton road.

Miss Clois Futrell was the town's first telephone operator. The girls in town loved to go and watch her operate the switchboard.

Four wells along Main Street provided the city water. These were used mostly to water the horses when people came to town, but people drank from there also. Fires were fought by a bucket brigade. When a fire broke out, someone would get on horseback and ride through town and yell "Fire!" There was a hand-pulled fire truck, which the men pulled to a well and pumped until it was dry. Then they filled up buckets and passed them along.

At the west end of town was a blacksmith shop, a buggy shop, a couple of stores, several homes, another store, a barber shop and later a bank. The Methodist Church was on Main Street. The first bank was the Peoples Bank, and the post office was located in the old Winborne law office building.

Murfreesboro had different types of schools. John first attended Miss Mary Parham's private school in the Boyette Hotel, then a school at the present Masonic Hall. There also was a public school on Broad Street that included a high school, but John went to Chowan College for high school, down in the basement of the old Columns Building.

There were different types of entertainment through the years.

Near the east end of Main Street there was a city park. Tent shows came to town. This was called Chautauqua, and Mr. Ollie Hamilton would bring a group for a tent show. Shows were presented for six nights, and during the daylight hours, there were educational and fun programs for the young.

The James Adams Floating Theater was a lot of fun for John. The boat docked at the town landing, and since his father was in the grocery business also, John went to the boat every morning it was there to deliver groceries. It was a floating showboat, and on the inside was like any other theater. The plays were excellent and educational, and the actors and actresses were outstanding. The plays were mostly classics, and lasted about two hours. There were dramas, musicals and comedies – something different each night.

Tickets cost 35 cents. Refreshments were sold, and Cracker-Jacks cost five cents.