Chasing the Wild Motel: Princess Anne Motor Lodge, Williamsburg

 The Princess Anne Motor Lodge, Williamsburg, VA

Early 1950s

     The Princess Anne Motor Lodge is the last of the classic motels along Richmond Road in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Governor Spotswood, Williamsburg Motor Lodge, the Shawnee, the Raleigh, the Mount Vernon, and the Colonial, among many others, have all succumbed in the last decade as redevelopment expanded along this stretch of Route 60. Others, like Carolyn Court (2003), Dew Drop Inn (2003), and the Tioga (1938-2007) have been destroyed by the city itself. Now the Princess Anne faces a doubly uncertain future after a car crash in late October.

late 1950s

1964

     The Princess Anne was built at the southeast corner of Richmond Road and New Hope Road around 1946.  Although it seems relatively small from the street, the complex extends back via a loop road. According to period postcards, "40 Units with air conditioning and radiant heat" offered "quiet, immaculate accommodations, the latest in motor court comfort and convenience" and carried recommendations from the American Automobile Association,  Duncan Hines, and Superior Courts United, Inc. 

 

Princess Anne from above, 2013, with additions at left. Google Earth image

     While the buildings were originally red brick, they were painted cream sometime before 1964. While I have not had much time to research the lodge's history, newspaper articles tell us that Margaret Burgess McMillan, wife of Allan Paul McMillan, was its general manager until 1986 (Dec 31, 1986 Richmond Times Dispatch, p.3).

     I stayed at the Princess Anne around ten years ago and found it charming and well-kept, a surprisingly intact mid-century motel. The cream-painted brickwork, flower beds, large trees, and green lawn became one of my favorite sites along Route 60, a roadside landscape increasingly fallen prey to chain development.

     Around 2007, the name was changed to "Heritage Inn"and the Princess herself was repainted in the style of Public Television's Revolutionary War cartoon series "Liberty's Kids". The 'Inn' now serves as an apartment complex rather than a hotel and, in 2010, the owner was required to remove the sign which had stood at the entrance for half a century. A storm also toppled the great tree on the right-hand side of the office, causing damage to the eaves and gutter. The Princess has been having a rough few years.

Two incarnations of the Princess Anne sign. A third, lettering in pink and green including the subscript "Motor Lodge" is just discernible beneath the paint. Holes in the bottom of the sign once suspended the board reading "Air Conditioned"

     Then, at half-past nine on the evening of October 29th, 2013, a car lost control coming out of the drive-thru at Dunkin Donuts across the street and plowed into the front of the old lodge office. A family with two children, living in the front rooms, was thankfully not in bed yet. The crash stove in the front and side walls, leaving the roof suspended above a mass of tumbled brick, splintered boards, and mattresses. The driver was taken to Riverside Hospital and the silver 2007 Mazda was gone the next morning, leaving its bumper amid the wreckage.

It is my hope that this will not be the end of the Princess Anne and that efforts can be made to rebuild and restore one of Williamsburg's classic motor courts. Businesses like the Princess Anne and the handful of survivors on the other side of town (e.g. the White Lion and International Village) were at the heart of Colonial Williamsburg's growth and success in its early years and remain relatively intact. They deserve preservation.

 Sources:

Tuttle, Jackson C.,
2011     Williamsburg City Manager Memorandum to Mayor and City Council: 6 Oct. 2011
             "Purchase Of Property At 901 Capitol Landing Road":
http://williamsburg-va.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=129&meta_id=4026

1964 Kodachrome detail:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbglasson/4211055884/

Photos by author and postcards in author's collection.

News stories relating to the wreck:
http://www.wavy.com/news/local/7-displaced-when-car-crashes-into-motel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz67K9VUN88




* Chasing the Wild Motel image by Tom Funk accompanied an article in the September 1953 issue of Women's Day.