Mark's Tourist Home and Cabins
Mark’s Tourist Home was advertised in the Green Book from 1959-1967. It was listed as “Mark’s Tourist Home & Cabins - 105 W. South St.” in Kinston from 1963-1967 and was listed with an advertisement from 1959-1962.1
Mark’s Tourist Homes and Cabins was owned by George Adolphus Marks. Marks was born in St. Vincent, British West Indies in 1904. He immigrated to the United States on December 28, 1928, joining his mother in New York. He married Kinston, NC native Vivian D. Marks on May 24, 1934. The couple’s wedding reception, held about two months after their wedding, was featured in The New York Age. The couple settled down in the Bronx.2
George and Vivian Marks continued to live in New York through the 1940s. George worked as an auto mechanic and for the J.R. Watkins Company; Vivian worked as a teacher for the WPA. They moved to Kinston between 1950 and 1953 and opened the tourist home during that time.3
Mark’s Tourist Homes and Cabins were “ultra-modern.” An advertisement for the business featured in the 1959 Green Book read: “‘A Home When You are Away from Home,’ Clean, Attractive Rooms and Cabins, Excellent Meals Served to Order, Pleasant Surroundings.” Vivian operated the tourist home with George until their divorce in 1962.4
George Marks was active in the local community and in local civil rights efforts. In 1962, the Deputy Mayor of Kingston, Jamaica, Balfour Barneswell, was invited to participate in Kinston’s 200th anniversary celebrations. When he arrived at his hotel, The Kingston, he was told that his reservation, confirmed the previous day, would not be honored due to his race and that he would have to go to Mark’s Tourist Home. George Marks was the President of the Lenoir County Chapter of the NAACP; he immediately took action, calling the State Department and North Carolina’s Governor.5
The bicentennial celebration was segregated and its organizers angered Black residents by asking them to depict enslaved people in the city’s parade. These injustices led the Kinston Youth NAACP, led by Adkin High School senior Donna Clark, to stage a protest at Grainger Stadium. Barnewsell was eventually offered a room at the Kinston Hotel as a result of the Youth NAACP protest and the efforts of the Lenoir County Chapter of the NAACP, but rejected the offer and remained at Mark’s Tourist Home until his return to Jamaica.6
Mark’s Tourist Home and Cabins closed prior to 1979, when it was listed for sale. George Marks passed away in 1989.7
Today, this property is owned by the owners of Mills Funeral Home in Kinston.8
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Oral History
Notes
1. Victor Green, 1959 Green Book, 51; Green, 1960 Green Book, 73; Green, 1961 Green Book, 69; Green, 1962 Green Book, 74; Green, 1963-1964 Green Book, 58; Green, 1966-1967 Green Book, 58.
2. George Adolphus Marks, Declaration of Intent, June 24, 1929 and Petition for Naturalization
No. 251550, New York, U.S., Naturalization Records, 1882-1944, accessed from www.ancestry.com; George A. Marks, December 29, 1928, the Dominica, New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “On Saturday evening July 30 . . .,” The New York Age, July 7, 1934, p. 2, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
3. 1940 United States Federal Census, Bronx, New York, digital image s.v. “George Marks,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; George Adolphus Marks, May 3, 1904, U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1953 Kinston, NC City Directory, 243 (alphabetical listing).
4. Hill’s 1959 Kinston (Lenoir County, N.C.) City Directory, p.174 (classified business directory), p. 221 (alphabetical listing), p. 94 (street guide); Hill’s 1960 Kinston (Lenoir County, N.C.) City Directory, p. 218 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1961 Kinston (Lenoir County, N.C.) City Directory, p. 262 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1962 Kinston (Lenoir County, N.C.) City Directory, p. 278 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1963 Kinston (Lenoir County, N.C.) City Directory, p. 270 (alphabetical listing), p. 165 (street guide); J. B. Harren, “Business League to Hold Regional Meet in Kinston,” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), March 19, 1955, p. 1, accessed from Digital NC; George Marks and Vivian Marks, 19 November 1962, North Carolina, U.S. Divorce Index, 1958-2004, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
5. “Hotel Bars West Indian Diplomat,” The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), October 27, 1962, pp. 1-2, accessed from newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Kinston’s 200th Birthday Event Snubbed by Race,” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), October 27, 1962, pp. 1, 6-A, accessed from newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Jamaican is Snubbed by City’s Hotel,” The Carolina Times, October 20, 1962, pp. 1, 6-A, accessed from newspapers.digitalnc.org.
6. “Hotel Bars West Indian Diplomat,” The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), October 27, 1962, pp. 1-2, accessed from newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Kinston’s 200th Birthday Event Snubbed by Race,” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), October 27, 1962, pp. 1, 6-A, accessed from newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Jamaican is Snubbed by City’s Hotel,” The Carolina Times, October 20, 1962, pp. 1, 6-A, accessed from newspapers.digitalnc.org.
7. “The Marks Tourist Home property . . .,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 24, 1979, p. 24; George Adolphus Marks, October 24, 1989, Greenville, Pitt, North Carolina, U.S., Death Indexes, 1908-2004, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
8. Email correspondence from Clementine “Tina” Bryant (Kinston Resident) to Lisa Withers on February 21, 2019.
Did you know?
- This entry was listed as an advertisement from 1959-1962. Afterwards, this entry appears as a single line in the Green Book:
- 1959: Listed with an advertisement for the Green Book entry: “Marks’ Tourist Home and Cabins, ‘A Home When You Are Away from Home,’ Clean, Attractive Rooms and Cabins, Excellent Meals Served to Order, Pleasant Surroundings, Phone JA 3-6092, George Marks, Prop., 105 W. South St. (Cor. So. Queen).”
- 1960-1962: Listed with an advertisement for the Green Book entry: “Phone JA 3-6092, George Marks, Prop., Marks’ Tourist Home and Cabins, ‘A Home When You Are Away From Home,’ Clean, Attractive Rooms and Cabins--Excellent Meals Served to Order, Pleasant Surroundings, 105 W. South Street (Cor. So. Queen).”
- 1963-1967: Listed as “Mark’s Tourist Home & Cabins----105 W. South St.” in Kinston.
