Violet Belle
Known Name(s)
Violet Belle
Address
18623 Bell's Hotel Place (current address) Benedict, MD
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Description
Bell’s Hotel is included in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Places (MIHP) form as part of the Benedict Survey District (CH-229), and it is a two-story, three-bay, front gable building standing near Mill Creek. The front porch support posts have been boarded over, and there is a corrugated metal shed roof addition without windows on the south elevation of the house.
Detailed History
Little is known about Bell’s Hotel, but it is likely that the hotel was used during racing season by those working at or attending horse races at the town’s track. In the 1930s, Violet Bell was an owner of a house with her husband, Clarence, but no mention was made of it as a hotel in The Afro-American’s social columns, classified advertisements or the paper’s travel section, unlike Thomas Hotel which stood near the Patuxent River. Bell’s Hotel Green Book listing ran as Violette Belles from 1938 to 1940, and then again from 1949 until 1960, always in the “Vacation” or “Resort” section of the directory. It did not seem to have a steady clientele whose comings and goings could be reported as local social news.
Clarence Bell was listed as a mail carrier for rural routes in Charles County in the 1930 US Census, and in the prior 1920 US Census the Bells resided in Washington, DC. By the 1940 Census Violet Bell had moved to Prince George’s County and no other information about the Bells was found.
