By Alexandra Sabatini
Adjacent to Longwood University’s northeast corner of campus, across from French Hall, is the historic Hotel Weyanoke. Long known as a fixture that once welcomed Helen Keller to town, it now has a new facelift and is a welcome addition to the Farmville community.
The Hotel Weyanoke opened its doors at 1925 and served as a functioning hotel for the Farmville community until 1980. Throughout this 55-year span, the hotel changed owners and inevitably became run down and worn out. Little to no renovations made at the time, Longwood University used it for sororities to live in. From then on, the hotel was known for its extravagant sorority life and wild parties. Unfortunately, the already run-down hotel beginning to deteriorate further.
Victoria Walker (’15) lived in the hotel in its final years with her sorority sisters. According to Walker, it was extreme
ly dirty when she moved in, the elevator did not work, and the hotel was not easily accessible.
But in 2013, the Hotel Weyanoke was taken over by Garrett Shifflett and Ross Ficken and has been completely renovated. What once was sorority housing has now turned into an upscale boutique hotel run by Cornerstone Hospitality with many amenities. The hotel is complete with 70 luxury hotel rooms and four modern restaurants. The Catbird, the rooftop bar, has become popular among Farmville residents as well as the students at Longwood University. Sassafras is a walk up coffee shop specifically geared to the students of Longwood. For a more upscale dining experience, there is Campagna, an elegant Italian restaurant in place of the old 202 bar. Finally, they have put in a pizza kitchen called First Call where brick oven pizza is the highlight of their menu.
Though the sororities of Longwood University may miss their housing many of the people in the town feel as though the Hotel Weyanoke is better than ever. Victoria also believed this change was necessary and good for the town. Recently, she came back to Farmville and stayed in the new hotel: “I actually stayed in one of the rooms when I was moving my brother into Virginia Tech. I stayed in the room right next to the one I lived in and I absolutely love what they have done with the hotel. I think it is a really cool place for alumni to come visit and stay.”
The next time you’re in town, come by, grab a coffee, and check out this bit of Farmville’s history.