Title Hotel Olivette, Mount Olive, N. C.
Caption The Rotograph Co. N.Y. City. Printed in Germany. 63164.
Transcription Message on back of card: "I am putting my feet under a table in this hotel for a few days. J.C. Lusk." Addressed to "Hermon Bros, Lima, Ohio." Postmarked 11 June [1908].
Publisher Rotograph Co., New York, N.Y.
Description View of a hotel. There are trees in front and on the right, and a water tower at left.
Creation Date 1908

The old Olivette Hotel located on the northeast corner of the block between James and John Streets and Center and Chesnut streets served the town of Mount Olive well from about 1903 to 1950. It was built by the late Cullen B. Hatch, Sr. in a late victorian electic style of architecture. The trimmings were mill made and sometime referred to as gingerbread. It was built for a residence and hotel and at that time, there was no town water system in Mount Olive.

The large outside necessary was covered with wisteria and was located on the back of the lot, just across the street from the Baptist Church.

In 1907 Mr. Ben Southerland bought the hotel and installed water which was pumped by a windmill. There were several windmills in Mount Olive at that time. The town water system was not installed until 1918 and for a time it was not too dependable.

The Yancey Knowles home stood next door to the hotel and the old opera house stood on the corner where a theater was later built. This block of land was part of a tract of 177 acres which was owned by Mrs. Nannie Loftin Kornegay, the widow Lemuel Kornegay. Mr. Kornegay was railroad station master in Mount Olive at the time of the War Between the States and years thereafter. Mrs. Kornegay later married Dr. Sam Flowers.

Mr. Cullen B. Hatch, Jr. relates that after his father sold the Olivette Hotel, they moved to the old home of Mrs. Molly Blount Shine where Mrs. Esther Hatch Burnette now lives. Mr. Hatch refers to Mrs. Shine as an aristocratic old lady. The Hatch family later moved to College Street.

Mr. Ben Southerland had married Miss Julia McGee. He was a prosperous business man and owned much real estate besides the hotel and the Shine house. He was the son of Robert Southerland who married Miss Anna Witherington.

The hotel was largely patronized by drummers (travelling salesmen), teachers, cotton buyers and producer buyers. Some of the salespersons working in stores ate their noon day meals at the hotel.

For many years the hotel was operated by Mrs. Bob Southerland of Faison (distant relatives of Southerlands in Mount Olive). It passed through several hands and finally in 1950, the hotel was closed. Dr. C. C. Henderson bought it and sold the lot for the building of a clinic.

I am indebted to my friends Mr. Cullen B. Hatch, Jr. and to Miss Marie Lewis for some of the facts in this article. The photograph was furnished to me by Leon H. Sikes of Rose Hill.