Carthage Hotel
The Carthage Hotel was located in Carthage, NC. It was listed in the Green Book from 1939-1941 and 1947-1949 as “Carthage Hotel” under “Hotels.” No street name or address was listed.1
The only hotel in Moore County, NC from 1939-1941 was in the small town of Carthage, NC. It was called the Carthage Hotel and opened at the turn of the 20th century. Ownership of the hotel changed at least three times during the time the hotel was listed in the Green Book; it was operated by James D. Gillison in 1940, transferred to Richard H. Smith later in 1940, and was managed by E.T. Ussery by 1942. The hotel had white ownership and white lodgers; most of the staff was African American.2
The hotel served as the center of community life in Carthage until it closed in 1973. It is not clear whether lodging was available to African Americans in a segregated area of the hotel or if information about other places to stay in the community might have been obtained there.3
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Notes
1. Victor Green, 1939 Green Book, 32; Green 1940 Green Book, 35; Green, 1941 Green Book, 35; Green, 1947 Green Book, 64; Green, 1948 Green Book, 61; Green, 1949 Green Book, 56.
2. “Stately Carthage Landmark to Fall,” The Charlotte Observer, January 7, 1973, digital pp. 4, 12, accessed from www.newspapers.com; 1940 United States Federal Census, Carthage, Moore County, 63-1B, digital image s.v. “James D. Gillison,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1950 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 63-2, Carthage, Moore County, North Carolina, digital image 22, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Richard L. Smith has leased . . .” The Pilot (Southern Pines, NC), May 10, 1940, p. 8, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Improvements made by Hotel Carthage,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 10, 1942, digital p. 13, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
3. “Stately Carthage Landmark to Fall,” The Charlotte Observer, January 7, 1973, digital pp. 4, 12, accessed from www.newspapers.com.” If you have information about the Carthage Hotel or lodging options for African American tourists in Moore County during the Green Book era, please contact the NC African American Heritage Commission.