Boone Tavern Lodge in Kentucky: Lodge Historical past 1855
The historic Boone Tavern Hotel was built on the old Dixie Highway and named after Kentucky explorer Daniel Boone. It is located in College Square in Berea, Kentucky.
- The Boone Tavern Hotel belongs to Berea College – the first college in the southern USA to be co-educational and racially integrated.
- Muhammed Ali’s father, Marcellus Clay, named his son after the anti-slavery crusader in White Kentucky, Cassius Marcellus Clay, one of the founders of Berea College.
- In 1904, Kentucky state legislature passed the “Daily Act,” which bans black-and-white students from studying together.
The Boone Tavern Hotel is owned by Berea College and operated by student staff from the College Labor Program. Students earn money on books, room and board, but don’t pay tuition fees (valued at $ 25,500 annually) thanks to the generosity of donors who support Berea College’s mission, free, high-quality education for students above all Appalachians with high academic potential and limited financial resources.
Berea College was founded in 1855 by the abolitionists John Gregg Fee and Cassius Marcellus Clay * as a liberal arts college with no tuition fees. Berea was the first college in the southern United States to be co-educational and racially integrated. There is a full participation work study program that requires students to work at least 10 hours per week on campus and have service jobs in over 130 departments.
In 1866, Berea’s first full year after the Civil War, 187 students (96 African American and 91 Whites) were enrolled in preparatory study courses to prepare them for college-level courses. In 1869 the first students were admitted and in 1873 the first bachelor’s degrees were awarded.
Muhammed Ali, the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, was also born as Cassius Marcellus Clay. His father, Marcellus Clay, a sign painter, called his son the Crusader Against Slavery in White Kentucky. Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810-1903) a white abolitionist who was Kentucky’s greatest anti-slavery crusader and one of the founders of Berea College.
In 1904, the passage of the Kentucky State Legislature “Day Law” disrupted Berea’s interracial education by banning the co-education of black and white students. The college challenged the law in a state court and appealed to the US Supreme Court at Berea College v Kentucky. When the college failed, the college had to become a separate school, but it provided funds to build the Lincoln Institute near Louisville and train black students. In 1925, famous advertiser Bruce Barton, a future Congressman, sent a letter to 24 wealthy men in America to raise funds for the college. Every single letter was returned with a donation of at least $ 1,000. In 1950, when the law was changed to allow college-level schools to be integrated, Berea immediately resumed its integrated policy.
Boone Tavern Hotel has 63 rooms furnished with handcrafted Early American furniture made by Berea students in the college wood craft shop. The Boone Tavern Restaurant is so well known for its long tradition of excellent food that it received the 2003 Duncan Hines Excellence in Hospitality Award. The tavern’s spoon bread, a mixture of cornmeal, is so popular that the city hosts a spoon bread festival every year.
To support its extensive scholarship program, Berea College has one of the largest financial reserves of any American college, measured per student. The endowment is $ 950 million compared to $ 1.1 billion in 2007. The basis of Berea College’s finances depends on significant contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations supporting the college’s mission, and Donations from alumni. A solid investment strategy increased the foundation’s assets from $ 150 million in 1985 to the current amount.
In 2010, the Boone Tavern Hotel was awarded the LEED Gold Certificate by the US Green Building Council. This makes it the first LEED certified hotel in Kentucky. The Boone Tavern Hotel is a member of the Historic Hotels of America and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Before the Civil War, Cassius Marcellus Clay wrote: “For better or worse, blacks are among us … We have to educate them because one day they will be part of our government society.”
Stanley Turkel was named Historian of the Year 2020 by Historic Hotels of America, the official National Trust for Historic Preservation program for which he was previously named in 2015 and 2014. Turkel is the most widely used hotel consultancy in the United States states. He runs his hotel consulting practice as an expert in cases related to hotels, offers asset management and hotel franchising advice. He is certified as a Master Hotel Supplier Emeritus by the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. [email protected] 917-628-8549
His new book “Great American Hotel Architects Volume 2” has just been published.
Other published hotel books:
- Great American Hoteliers: Hotel Industry Pioneers (2009)
- Built to last: Hotels in New York that are over 100 years old (2011)
- Built to last: Over 100-year-old hotels east of the Mississippi (2013)
- Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt, Oscar des Waldorfs (2014)
- Great American Hoteliers Volume 2: Hotel Industry Pioneers (2016)
- Built to last: over 100-year-old hotels west of the Mississippi (2017)
- Hotel Mavens Volume 2: Henry Morrison Flagler, Henry Bradley Plant, Carl Graham Fisher (2018)
- Great American Hotel Architects Volume I (2019)
- Hotel Mavens: Volume 3: Bob and Larry Tisch, Ralph Hitz, Cesar Ritz, Curt Strand
All of these books can be ordered from AuthorHouse by visiting www.stanleyturkel.com and clicking on the title of the book.
