Were her twenty-six winding steps David O. Selznick’s inspiration for the mythical staircase in Gone with the Wind? Did alligators once lounge lazily in the fountain?
Well, yes and no. However, Old Pompey was The Jefferson’s very last alligator and
he remained at the Hotel until he died in 1948.
Amidst the seventy-foot ceilings,
massive columns and an authentic Tiffany skylight above the life-sized statue of
Thomas Jefferson carved in Italian marble, it is impossible not to believe the stories
whispered in the Palm Court at Afternoon Tea.
United States Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt as well as Ronald Reagan loved the grand hotel, but they weren’t the only famous faces to grace her lobby. Charlie Chaplin, Sarah Bernhardt, Nelson Eddy, Robert Mitchum, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra were there along with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The Vanderbilts and the Barrymores stayed at The Jefferson, but they didn’t ride their motorcycle through the lobby as Elvis Presley did. Rachmaninoff played in The Grand Ballroom and Mr. Bojangles was "discovered" as he waited tables in the dining room.
Christmas at The Jefferson in Richmond, Virginia will instantly become
the standard by which you judge all other Christmases for the rest of your life.
The rooms at The Jefferson Hotel are perfectly appointed
and the service is impeccable, as their five stars
and five-diamond rating will attest.
The Jefferson Hotel
101 West Franklin Street
Richmond, Virginia
(804) 788-8000
