The Franklin (tourist house)
Known Name(s)
The Franklin (tourist house)
Address
9 Tucker St. Lexington, VA
Establishment Type(s)
Tourist Home
Physical Status
Extant
Description
There are two houses at this address. One is closer to the street, in good condition, and obviously inhabited. The other is at the rear of the property and in poor condition. Both could have been used as part of the tourist home. Both are listed as contributing structures in the Lexington National Register Historic District.
Detailed History
According to Historic Lexington Foundation's African American walking tour, the tourist home was built in 1897 and owned and operated by Zach and Arlene Franklin. It operated as the Franklin Colored Tourist Home until Mrs. Franklin's 1952 death. It is within the Diamond Hill community.
Neither the 1940 nor the 1950 census lists anyone by the name of Franklin in Lexington.
Both structures at 9 Tucker, plus a shed, are listed as contributing structures in the Lexington National Register Historic District. The primary resource is described as ca 1885, two story, vernacular.
The houses sit a few doors down from National Register-listed Blandome at 101 Tucker. Harry Lee Walker (1875-1941), a Black businessman, purchased the late 1820s Blandome at auction in 1917. His wife, Eliza Bannister Walker (1874-1939), had pursued a career in nursing at Washington, DC's Freedman's Hospital. She devoted herself to uplifting the African American community of Lexington.
Follow the Rockbridge Historical Society blog here: https://rockbridgehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Green-Book-comes-to-Lexington-1939-and-Beyond-1.pdf
