From the National Trust comes a timely tie-in to African American History Month – The Green Book. This guide was aimed at providing tourism guidance to African-Americans, directing travelers to restaurants, hotels, and leisure spots that would serve them between 1936-1967. Read more and watch the video on the National Trust’s site, and you can catch the debut of the documentary mentioned in the video on February 25 on the Smithsonian Channel.
As mentioned in the video interview, the directories themselves have been digitized and made freely available online at the New York Public Library. As you might guess, Winchester has a few entries, both familiar to us and new – the 1947 book includes the staples of Ruth’s Tea Room on Cecil St. and Hotel Evans on Sharp St., but also a tourist home operated by Mrs. Joe Willis on North Loudoun (no address given), and the Dunbar Tea Room and Tourist Home at 21 W. Hart (now demolished; two other photos are available from us on Flickr shortly before the building came down). We have not looked through all of the available books to check Winchester’s entries, so let us know if you find something intriguing.