The Travelers Inn: Black Appalachian History in Bluefield
The Travelers Inn: Black Appalachian History in Bluefield, is a project that aims to renew the African American neighborhoods of Bluefield’s North Side and East End in collaboration with Greg Galford, Assistant Professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management, and Vonnia Harris Davis, artist and community advocate. The East End and North Side neighborhoods hold profound significance to Black Appalachian history, and this project seeks to make their contributions visible through public memory projects . The project invites community members to solidify their cultural legacy for future possibilities, including by reimagining historical sites such as Travelers Inn, listed in the “Negro Travelers Green Book” during the segregated Jim Crow Era. The team will engage in community conversations to inform a public art installation that reflects the unique character, culture, and spirit of Black residents' history.
In the News
The Travelers Inn project is holding a design competition!
Project Collaborators
Greg Galford
Dr. Gregory Galford is a registered architect and assistant professor of residential environments and design. His scholarship focuses on the environmental effects on behavior within residential spaces, and he teaches construction technology and studio design courses.
Vonnia Harris Davis
Vonnia “Vonn” Harris Davis, a curator of culture and space, strives to preserve the powerful history of Black Appalachia and ore specifically, Black history in Bluefield, West Virginia. Vonn understands that preservation is not limited and extends to museums and museums without walls, as with monuments and public art. This form of preservation is publically accessible for generations to come. She thrives in a culture of authentic team building and her first successful team, Communicative Solutions Group,Inc. (S Corp), was built with two business partners. CSG, Inc., a therapy company. Although disrupted, it still thrives and is open to serve her Atlanta community. Vonn first heard the term, ‘Cultural Disruption’, from her professor at the Center for Documentary Studies, at Duke University, Michelle Lanier, who firmly believes that a community has a right to their own narrative. Vonn, along with others have tried to soften some of the disruptions in Bluefield, West Virginia, by tirelessly investing “heart, hand and head”. (Booker T Washington)
Vonn served as a consultant for the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) after the sudden closing of the historical Grant Street bridge in Bluefield. Now two interpretive signs serve as the guide for the East End to NorthSide Cultural Tour. Cultural Tourism is now serving as a foundational economic redevelopment tool in communities across America and she hopes this will be one of the foundational tools for economic redevelopment in Bluefield, WV.
There are three standing Green Book hotels in Bluefield, WV and Vonn has vested ownership of one, the Travelers Inn. Travelers Inn stands beside Hotel Thelma and both were once owned and operated by African American Appalachian women. She established two teams, the Stakeholders and Wrap Around Group, to mentor the projects restoration and preservation efforts. Vonn understands that building carry energy and preserving their history is just as import as preserving the history of the human landscape.
During the Bluefield, West Virginia Black History month celebrations a Black History Month Bannners Project was established. Vonn nominated several candidates, which once accepted, were hung on lightposts around the city of Bluefield. Her nominees, Olivia America Davidson Washington, Booker T Washington’s second wife and Dr. Patrice Harris, both are her relatives and both were accepted. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/wrMCK7oHFjhPqcDk/?mibextid=UalRPS
To further support the vision for the communities reimagined ideologies and social and ethical redevelopment efforts, Vonn trademarked the word “Affrolachia” www.affrolachia.com in 2018 and launched a social media campaign that made space for Black people, Black people from Appalachia and Black people in West Virginia. Her nonprofit, Blueprint 2022 (501c3) was established in 2020. Vonn has presented at the Appalachian Studies Conference about Black history in Bluefield, West Virginia over seven time and was recently invited to visit Berea College to share research on African American lives in Appalachia.
With support from MAAV, Vonn organized the “Women’s History Lab ‘’ as a way to capture listening and mapping sessions as well as preserve the history of African American women from Bluefield. This event will include a group of speakers who live or once lived in Bluefield.
