Hollins University - Spinster Yearbook (Roanoke, VA)

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The Story of Her Past and Present, as related by Ioseph A. Turner ,I -. .g a i 1?-2 - ILLIAM CARVIN, a Pioneer, ga ' Indian Fighter, and Welchman, whose real name was Probably Car- ovan, found the place attractive, for he chose it when he had all the fertile and beautiful surrounding territory to choose from., He had it surveyed and he received a grant bear- ing the name and seal of King George the second, and the date Iuly 25, 1746. That was one of the earliest grants in what is now Roanoke County, and a later inclusive survey refers to the original grant of one hundred and fifty acres including A Small Sulphur Springf' A 7 ..... 2. f It i ,3LlTV in Jing i' .X all r l w rt'H'-'fa t - - l E a 4, ' at I 'I gif! f - 5+ - Ei ' - F ,, K 1 1 , K -f X e 1' X I' Wi

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CONTENTS COLLEGE CLASSES ORGANIZATIONS FEATURES ATHLETICS St E S-dh 1?

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l ' , hu :Q ' 1 I ' 3lgs'Q.r': .J . 'IL '1 u. l . Charles Johnston look- 1 ip w were from prominent fam- ed at it and liked it, and 1 f 'lllip ilies and certainly they near that same Sulphur A 1 71? Q. V were pretty, as a look at Spring built in 1820 the ll' A , theirsilhouetteswill prove. Botetourt Springs Hotel lv' F XJ But the Seminary after and cottages. Many dis- X tl -t'ij'MimX two or three years went tinguished guests visited llfyflg .G the way of the Springgrf, the Springsf'---Andrew X X sl 1:1135 I ff and in 1842 the property, li Il l Iackson and Henry Clay among them. In 1832, a guest from Baltimore-U Iohn H. B. Latrobe---described Tinker and the Tombstone U and the charm- ing Miss Claibornef, whom he wooed and won, and spoke of the atmosphere of refinement about the place, and men- tioned the fact that Mr. Johnston pre- sided at the table with an air. Mr. Latrobe painted a pretty water color of the spring. A few years later, Edward William Iohnston looked over the place and liked it. He bought it and in 1839 moved his young ladies' seminary from Liberty flfiedfordj, and opened here the Roanoke Female Seminary, with its quaint rules, regulations and uniforms. The usual seminary courses and the ornamental branchesn were taught. Special atten- tion was given to French taught by a native of France, and on occasions French was used exclusively. Dancing was fea- tured too, and taught by a dancing master---according to the girlsn he was a Polish nobleman. Many of the girls X ' V v ' vfbtlig. of I. 1 ll 7' 1 X in a rather dilapidated state and badly in debt, was put up for sale. Along came Ioshua Bradley, a gradu- ate of Brown University. The Rev. Bradley was a dreamer, an enthusiast, a promoter, or what you will. 1-le was interested in churches and in schools and he founded quite a number of both in a number of states. He was not possess- ed of business ability, and many of the institutions he was instrumental in Start- ing have long since passed out of exist- ence. But among those that remain are Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, Shurtleff College in Illinois and Hol- lins College in Virginia. Here he or- ganized the Valley Seminary. That was in 1842. After four years the property was again in bad shape and the school badly in debt. It was in 1846 that a young professor of mathematics in Richmond College, Charles Lewis Cocke, decided to leave the cultural, re- ligious, economic, and political capital of the State and to take charge of a struggling school in Southwest Virginia.