A tavern, a doctor's office, a children's clinic, a dress shop and the county's only public library, in one brick house at Main and Buckmarsh.
A house on the corner
100 West Main Street is a Federal brick house of about 1820 at Main and Buckmarsh — the Treadwell Smith House, now Hawthorne Hall — residential in origin, a doctor's office by 1987, and the only original building left at its corner, as the 1987 survey of the historic district has it. The family who sold it in 2006 told it differently and older: a rear portion on Buckmarsh "presumed" to be from around 1795, a Main Street front of 1816, a last addition about 1920. The survey's date is kept as the building's, the family's as an account.
Source note: Berryville Historic District, 1987
The 1987 Berryville Historic District nomination inventories 100 W. Main Street as the Treadwell Smith House (historic name) and Hawthorne Hall (present name), a Federal brick house of ca. 1820, residential in origin and a doctor's office in 1987, with a two-storey rear wing and a twentieth-century portico, "the only original building left" at the Main and Buckmarsh intersection.
What the source supports
The surviving building's survey date, original and 1987 uses, from the nomination.
Uncertainty
"Ca. 1820" is an architectural attribution; no deed or datestone was inspected. The nomination gives no occupant chronology.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The inventory entry.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 48, W. Main Street inventory, 100
Relevant passageTreadwell Smith House-historic name. Hawthorne Hall-present name. Doctor's Office-present use. Residential-original use. Federal. ca. 1820. ... 2-story rear brick wing; altered and portico added in 20th century; only original building left at the intersection of Main and Buckmarsh Streets
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The architectural analysis naming it beside the Sarah Stribling House.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 5, architectural analysis
Relevant passageThree of the most imposing examples are the ca. 1820 Treadwell Smith House (Hawthorne Hall) located at the intersection of West Main and North Buckmarsh streets, the adjoining ca. 1810 Sarah Stribling House (Battletown Inn)
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly, 2017, and one more
A 2017 Clarke Monthly building history says the building was put up in three phases: a rear portion on Buckmarsh Street "presumed" to date from around 1795, the West Main front built in 1816 "according to Mrs. York", and a last addition by Archibald Cummins about 1920.
What the source supports
The family's dating of the building's parts, as the article reports it, kept separate from the survey's.
Uncertainty
Local and family dating, uncited. The 1987 survey attributes the house to ca. 1820 and does not phase it; this site publishes the survey date as the building's date and the 1795/1816 dates as a reported account.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The three-phase account.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Opening paragraphs, on the three phases
Relevant passagethis section is presumed to have been built around 1795. According to Mrs. York, the portion of the building that faces West Main Street was built in 1816.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The Cummins addition "a year or so" after 1919.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on Archibald Cummins
Relevant passageIn 1919, Archibald Cummins purchased the building from Charles Smith's heirs. A year or so later, Cummins built the last addition ... he hired Clarke County's first public health nurse and opened a clinic in what then became known as the Cummins Clinic Building.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: complicates. The survey's single ca. 1820 attribution.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 48, W. Main Street inventory, 100
Relevant passageTreadwell Smith House-historic name. Hawthorne Hall-present name. Doctor's Office-present use. Residential-original use. Federal. ca. 1820. ... 2-story rear brick wing; altered and portico added in 20th century; only original building left at the intersection of Main and Buckmarsh Streets
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Travelers, then patients
Treadwell Smith bought the house at auction in 1830 and kept an ordinary, food and lodging for travelers, by the 2017 account; his son Charles inherited it in 1872. In 1887 Dr. Alfred Tucker rented it for his medical office and a small hospital. In 1919 Archibald Cummins, a mining engineer turned county benefactor, bought it from the Smith heirs, built the last addition, hired the county's first public health nurse and opened a clinic; for a while the place was the Cummins Clinic Building.
Source note: Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly, 2017
The article says Treadwell Smith bought the building at public auction in 1830 and ran an "ordinary", a tavern offering food and lodging, and that after his death in 1872 his son Charles inherited it.
What the source supports
The tavern phase and the first ownership the article names.
Uncertainty
No deed inspected; the article does not say how long the ordinary operated.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The Treadwell Smith paragraph.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on Treadwell Smith
Relevant passageTreadwell Smith purchased the building at public auction in 1830 and operated an "ordinary," or tavern, offering food and lodging to travelers. After Treadwell died in 1872, his son Charles inherited the building.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly, 2017
The article says that in 1887 Dr. Alfred Tucker rented the building for his medical office and a small hospital, and that he died in 1915.
What the source supports
The building's first medical use, as a tenancy.
Uncertainty
Renting is not owning; the article does not say when the tenancy ended.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The Dr. Tucker paragraph.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on Dr. Tucker
Relevant passageIn 1887, Dr. Alfred Tucker rented the building and established his medical office and a small hospital there. ... Dr. Tucker died in 1915.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly, 2017
The article says Archibald Cummins bought the building from Charles Smith's heirs in 1919, added to it about a year later, hired the county's first public health nurse and opened a clinic there, the building then being known as the Cummins Clinic Building.
What the source supports
The purchase, the last addition and the clinic phase.
Uncertainty
The clinic's operating dates are not stated. The nurse's name is not given.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The Cummins paragraphs.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on Archibald Cummins
Relevant passageIn 1919, Archibald Cummins purchased the building from Charles Smith's heirs. A year or so later, Cummins built the last addition ... he hired Clarke County's first public health nurse and opened a clinic in what then became known as the Cummins Clinic Building.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The county's library, upstairs from the doctor
In 1929 or 1930 Cummins put his own books in the building and hired a librarian: the Hawthorne Library, named for his favorite author, the county's only public library until the books went to the new high school in 1954. The Clarke Courier could not keep its own dating straight: its 1935 feature is headlined "Established In 1930" and counts loans from that January, while its 1939 notice says Cummins "first opened" the library in December 1929. Both are printed here. Dr. Frank Tappan, whose education Cummins had paid for, practiced on the first floor and lived upstairs, and inherited the building in 1933. During the Second World War, the account says, the never-locked building became an informal bus station where soldiers sheltered until the bus came.
Source note: Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly, 2017, and two more
The article says Cummins established the Hawthorne Library in the building in 1929 with his own books, and that it remained the county's only public library until the books were transferred to the new high school in 1954.
What the source supports
A public library inside a downtown building for a quarter-century.
Uncertainty
The library shared the building with medical and residential uses; the article does not give its rooms or hours. Its 1929 date is not settled: the Clarke Courier's own 1935 feature is headlined "Established In 1930" and counts circulation from January 1930, while its 1939 notice says Cummins first opened the library in December 1929. This site publishes both and chooses neither.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The library paragraph.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on the library
Relevant passageestablished the "Hawthorne Library" in 1929 ... The Hawthorne Library remained Clarke County's only public library until the new high school, now Johnson-Williams Middle School, opened in 1954 and the books were transferred there.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: complicates. The 1935 headline dates the library to 1930.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline and opening paragraphs (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageAmazing Record Proves Usefulness of Hawthorne Library Established In 1930 ... The 2,000 books on the shelves cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan have been loaned out more than 6 times for each book.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The 1939 notice agrees with the 2017 account on 1929, and adds the month.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, closing paragraph of the same notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passagethe Hawthorne Library in Berryville that was given to Clarke County by Mr. Archibald Cummins and first opened by him in Decem[b]er 1929. Since that time the institution has loaned to the public free of charge approximately 20,000 books and magazines.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly, 2017
The article says Dr. Frank Tappan kept his medical offices on the first floor and lived in an upper-floor apartment, that Cummins willed him the building on his death in 1933, and that during World War II the building served as an informal bus station where waiting soldiers sheltered.
What the source supports
The Tappan years and a wartime use, on the family's account.
Uncertainty
The bus-station use is remembered by the Tappans' daughter and is "informal"; no schedule or carrier is named.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The Tappan and wartime paragraphs.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on Dr. Tappan and the war
Relevant passageFrank and his wife Alice moved into one of the upper-floor apartments of the Hawthorne Building, with Frank's medical offices on the first floor. When Archibald died in 1933, he willed the building to Tappan. ... During World War II, the Hawthorne Building served as an informal bus station.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1935, and one more
The Clarke Courier of 21 November 1935 described the Hawthorne Library at five years old, with 2,000 books kept "through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan", more than thirteen thousand loans since January 1930, morning and afternoon opening hours, and free reading and borrowing; its headline called the library "Established In 1930".
What the source supports
The library in operation in 1935, its size, its hours and who paid for it, from the paper of the week.
Uncertainty
The paper's own dating of the library differs from its dating in 1939: this headline and the circulation count start in 1930, the 1939 notice says December 1929. Both are published here and neither is chosen.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The headline and opening paragraphs.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline and opening paragraphs (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageAmazing Record Proves Usefulness of Hawthorne Library Established In 1930 ... The 2,000 books on the shelves cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan have been loaned out more than 6 times for each book.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The hours paragraph.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, library hours paragraph (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe Hawthorne Library hours are from 9 until 11 in the morning and from 3:30 until 5:30 in the afternoon. All books and magazines may be read in the library or borrowed free of charge.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: complicates. The same paper in 1939 dates the opening to December 1929.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, closing paragraph of the same notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passagethe Hawthorne Library in Berryville that was given to Clarke County by Mr. Archibald Cummins and first opened by him in Decem[b]er 1929. Since that time the institution has loaned to the public free of charge approximately 20,000 books and magazines.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1939, and one more
A notice in the Clarke Courier of 16 February 1939 placed a benefit bazaar "in the Hawthorne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments", and said the library had been given to Clarke County by Archibald Cummins and "first opened by him in December 1929", having since lent about twenty thousand books and magazines free of charge.
What the source supports
That the library and the Tappans' apartments were rooms in the same building in 1939: the overlapping uses, in one sentence, from a contemporary source.
Uncertainty
A prospective notice about a bazaar; the opening date it gives is the paper's own retrospective statement, and it differs from the 1935 headline. The apartments are not described further.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The bazaar sentence naming both the library rooms and the Tappan apartments.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Bazaar Planned For Hawthorne Library" (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageit is all going to happen at a Bazaar in the Haw[t]horne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments for the benefit of the Hawthorne Library to secure the services of a Librarian.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The paragraph on Cummins and December 1929.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, closing paragraph of the same notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passagethe Hawthorne Library in Berryville that was given to Clarke County by Mr. Archibald Cummins and first opened by him in Decem[b]er 1929. Since that time the institution has loaned to the public free of charge approximately 20,000 books and magazines.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: complicates. The 1935 headline dating the library to 1930.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline and opening paragraphs (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageAmazing Record Proves Usefulness of Hawthorne Library Established In 1930 ... The 2,000 books on the shelves cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan have been loaned out more than 6 times for each book.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Frank and his wife Alice moved into one of the upper-floor apartments of the Hawthorne Building, with Frank's medical offices on the first floor. When Archibald died in 1933, he willed the building to Tappan. ... During World War II, the Hawthorne Building served as an informal bus station.
What the newspaper saw
The building's own decades show up in the paper a week at a time. On June 11, 1931 the Courier announced a clinic at the Hawthorne Building for the removal of children's tonsils and adenoids on the Friday and Saturday following, examinations at nine. In April 1934 The Little Shop advertised suits, dresses and polo coats from "HEADQUARTERS The Little Shop HAWTHORNE BUILDING". In November 1935 the library held two thousand books, lent more than thirteen thousand since January 1930, and opened mornings and afternoons, free to read or borrow, the books "cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan". In February 1939 a benefit bazaar was planned "in the Hawthorne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments", which is the clearest evidence that these uses shared a roof rather than followed one another. In March 1947 the library was still open weekday afternoons and Saturday evenings.
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1931
The Clarke Courier of 11 June 1931 announced a clinic for the removal of tonsils and adenoids in children at the Hawthorne Building on Friday and Saturday, 12 and 13 June, with examinations beginning at nine.
What the source supports
Medical and public-health work in the building on two named days in 1931, from the paper of the week rather than a later recollection.
Uncertainty
An announcement printed the day before. It does not report that the clinic took place, name a room, or establish a standing clinic; the practitioners it names are not otherwise identified here.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The notice, in the Library of Congress OCR of page 1.
Clarke Courier, 1931-06-11, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1931-06-11 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "TONSIL AND ADENOID CLINIC JUNE 12 AND 13" (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageA clinic for the removal of de[i]seased tonsils and adenoids of children will be held at the Hawthorne Building, Berryville, on Friday and Saturday, June 12 and 13.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1934
A display advertisement in the Clarke Courier of 12 April 1934 gave the Hawthorne Building, Berryville, as the headquarters of The Little Shop, offering suits, dresses and polo coats.
What the source supports
A retail business trading from the building in 1934, a use no later account of the building mentions.
Uncertainty
An advertisement attests what was advertised on one day. It establishes no lease, opening or closing, and the shop is not profiled here.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The advertisement, in the OCR of page 4.
Clarke Courier, 1934-04-12, page 4
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1934-04-12 (publication)
Locator: Page 4, display advertisement (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageSuits, Dresses, Polo Coats ... HEADQUARTERS The Little Shop HAWTHORNE BUILDING Berryville
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1935, and one more
The Clarke Courier of 21 November 1935 described the Hawthorne Library at five years old, with 2,000 books kept "through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan", more than thirteen thousand loans since January 1930, morning and afternoon opening hours, and free reading and borrowing; its headline called the library "Established In 1930".
What the source supports
The library in operation in 1935, its size, its hours and who paid for it, from the paper of the week.
Uncertainty
The paper's own dating of the library differs from its dating in 1939: this headline and the circulation count start in 1930, the 1939 notice says December 1929. Both are published here and neither is chosen.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The headline and opening paragraphs.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline and opening paragraphs (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageAmazing Record Proves Usefulness of Hawthorne Library Established In 1930 ... The 2,000 books on the shelves cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan have been loaned out more than 6 times for each book.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The hours paragraph.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, library hours paragraph (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe Hawthorne Library hours are from 9 until 11 in the morning and from 3:30 until 5:30 in the afternoon. All books and magazines may be read in the library or borrowed free of charge.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: complicates. The same paper in 1939 dates the opening to December 1929.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, closing paragraph of the same notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passagethe Hawthorne Library in Berryville that was given to Clarke County by Mr. Archibald Cummins and first opened by him in Decem[b]er 1929. Since that time the institution has loaned to the public free of charge approximately 20,000 books and magazines.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1939, and one more
A notice in the Clarke Courier of 16 February 1939 placed a benefit bazaar "in the Hawthorne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments", and said the library had been given to Clarke County by Archibald Cummins and "first opened by him in December 1929", having since lent about twenty thousand books and magazines free of charge.
What the source supports
That the library and the Tappans' apartments were rooms in the same building in 1939: the overlapping uses, in one sentence, from a contemporary source.
Uncertainty
A prospective notice about a bazaar; the opening date it gives is the paper's own retrospective statement, and it differs from the 1935 headline. The apartments are not described further.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The bazaar sentence naming both the library rooms and the Tappan apartments.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Bazaar Planned For Hawthorne Library" (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageit is all going to happen at a Bazaar in the Haw[t]horne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments for the benefit of the Hawthorne Library to secure the services of a Librarian.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The paragraph on Cummins and December 1929.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, closing paragraph of the same notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passagethe Hawthorne Library in Berryville that was given to Clarke County by Mr. Archibald Cummins and first opened by him in Decem[b]er 1929. Since that time the institution has loaned to the public free of charge approximately 20,000 books and magazines.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: complicates. The 1935 headline dating the library to 1930.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline and opening paragraphs (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageAmazing Record Proves Usefulness of Hawthorne Library Established In 1930 ... The 2,000 books on the shelves cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan have been loaned out more than 6 times for each book.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier (Berryville), 1947
A notice in the Clarke Courier of 27 March 1947 gave the Hawthorne Library's hours as weekdays from three to five and Saturday evenings from seven to eight, with books free to read or borrow.
What the source supports
The library still open, and still free, twelve years after the 1935 account and seven before the books moved.
Uncertainty
Two dated observations do not prove the years between them. The notice says nothing about the building's other uses.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The notice, in the OCR of page 6.
Clarke Courier, 1947-03-27, page 6
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1947-03-27 (publication)
Locator: Page 6, library notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe Hawthorne Library is open each week day from 3 to 5 p. m., and on Saturday evenings from 7 to 8. Books may be read or borrowed free of charge.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Hawthorne Building footprint labeled on Sanborn Fire Insurance sheet, Berryville, March 1921. Marked MEDICAL SCHOOL and CLINIC in this survey.
What this image does and does not showThis shows only the fire-insurance surveyor's 1921 record of building footprint, construction, and recorded use. It is not a photograph, does not prove present-day identity, and does not establish whether today's building matches the 1921 footprint.
Sanborn Map Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Berryville, Clark County, Virginia, March 1921, sheet 2. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Sanborn Maps Collection. Rights Changes: A detail cut from the Library of Congress scan of the whole sheet, which is 6,450 by 7,650 pixels: the rectangle from x 2,080 to 4,105 and y 780 to 1,975, kept at those 2,025 by 1,195 pixels, not scaled, and re-encoded as JPEG. Nothing retouched, recolored or added.
Source: Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Berryville, Clark County, Virginia, Mar. 1921, sheet 2 of 5 (Library of Congress item) Open the full image
Offices and apartments
Dr. Robert York joined Tappan's practice in 1953, married into the family, and retired in 1994. In 2006 the Yorks sold the building to Melinda Kramer, who renovated it; in November 2017 it held four offices and seven apartments and was for sale again. What it holds today isn't in the sources this page rests on.
Source note: Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly, 2017
The article says Dr. Robert York joined Dr. Tappan's practice in the building in 1953 and retired in 1994, that the Yorks sold the building to Melinda Kramer in 2006, and that after an extensive renovation it held four offices and seven apartments in November 2017.
What the source supports
The last medical practice, the 2006 sale and the building's configuration as of 2017.
Uncertainty
"Today" is November 2017; the building was then for sale. Nothing here describes it after that.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The closing paragraphs.
Life and Times in the Hawthorne Building
Betsy Arnette, Clarke Monthly · 2017-11-16 (publication)
Locator: Closing paragraphs
Relevant passageIn 1953, Dr. Robert "Bob" York joined Dr. Tappan's practice in the Hawthorne Building. ... Dr. York retired from practicing medicine in 1994 and, in 2006, the Yorks sold the Hawthorne Building to Melinda Kramer. ... Today, the Hawthorne Building contains four offices and seven apartments.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
What this story does not say
It does not choose between 1795, 1816 and about 1820 for the building, or between December 1929 and 1930 for the library; the survey dates the building, the family dates its parts, and the newspaper dates the library two ways. It does not say the tavern ran until the doctor arrived, name the nurse, or describe the building after 2017. The newspaper notices are read from Library of Congress OCR; no page image was inspected, so the quotations follow the OCR, including its spellings.
About the evidenceWhat the evidence says
Building documented by the 1987 survey; uses reported by a 2017 account and, for 1931 to 1947, by the contemporary newspaper.
The nomination documents the house, its ca. 1820 date and its original residential use. The tavern, hospital, clinic, library and bus-shelter phases come from one 2017 building history resting on the York family's account. Five Clarke Courier issues between 1931 and 1947, read in Library of Congress OCR, independently show a clinic, a shop, and the library at three separate dates, and place the library and the Tappan apartments in the same rooms. They also disagree with each other about when the library opened, and that disagreement is published rather than settled.
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The 1987 Berryville Historic District nomination inventories 100 W. Main Street as the Treadwell Smith House (historic name) and Hawthorne Hall (present name), a Federal brick house of ca. 1820, residential in origin and a doctor's office in 1987, with a two-storey rear wing and a twentieth-century portico, "the only original building left" at the Main and Buckmarsh intersection.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe 1987 Berryville Historic District nomination inventories 100 W. Main Street as the Treadwell Smith House (historic name) and Hawthorne Hall (present name), a Federal brick house of ca. 1820, residential in origin and a doctor's office in 1987, with a two-storey rear wing and a twentieth-century portico, "the only original building left" at the Main and Buckmarsh intersection.
What the source supports
The surviving building's survey date, original and 1987 uses, from the nomination.
Uncertainty
"Ca. 1820" is an architectural attribution; no deed or datestone was inspected. The nomination gives no occupant chronology.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The inventory entry.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 48, W. Main Street inventory, 100
Relevant passageTreadwell Smith House-historic name. Hawthorne Hall-present name. Doctor's Office-present use. Residential-original use. Federal. ca. 1820. ... 2-story rear brick wing; altered and portico added in 20th century; only original building left at the intersection of Main and Buckmarsh Streets
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The architectural analysis naming it beside the Sarah Stribling House.
Berryville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination, DHR 168-0012 (1987)
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 5, architectural analysis
Relevant passageThree of the most imposing examples are the ca. 1820 Treadwell Smith House (Hawthorne Hall) located at the intersection of West Main and North Buckmarsh streets, the adjoining ca. 1810 Sarah Stribling House (Battletown Inn)
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The Clarke Courier of 21 November 1935 described the Hawthorne Library at five years old, with 2,000 books kept "through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan", more than thirteen thousand loans since January 1930, morning and afternoon opening hours, and free reading and borrowing; its headline called the library "Established In 1930".
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe Clarke Courier of 21 November 1935 described the Hawthorne Library at five years old, with 2,000 books kept "through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan", more than thirteen thousand loans since January 1930, morning and afternoon opening hours, and free reading and borrowing; its headline called the library "Established In 1930".
What the source supports
The library in operation in 1935, its size, its hours and who paid for it, from the paper of the week.
Uncertainty
The paper's own dating of the library differs from its dating in 1939: this headline and the circulation count start in 1930, the 1939 notice says December 1929. Both are published here and neither is chosen.
Source
Contemporary report Evidence role: supports. The headline and opening paragraphs.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline and opening paragraphs (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageAmazing Record Proves Usefulness of Hawthorne Library Established In 1930 ... The 2,000 books on the shelves cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan have been loaned out more than 6 times for each book.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Contemporary report Evidence role: supports. The hours paragraph.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, library hours paragraph (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe Hawthorne Library hours are from 9 until 11 in the morning and from 3:30 until 5:30 in the afternoon. All books and magazines may be read in the library or borrowed free of charge.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Contemporary report Evidence role: complicates. The same paper in 1939 dates the opening to December 1929.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, closing paragraph of the same notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passagethe Hawthorne Library in Berryville that was given to Clarke County by Mr. Archibald Cummins and first opened by him in Decem[b]er 1929. Since that time the institution has loaned to the public free of charge approximately 20,000 books and magazines.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
A notice in the Clarke Courier of 16 February 1939 placed a benefit bazaar "in the Hawthorne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments", and said the library had been given to Clarke County by Archibald Cummins and "first opened by him in December 1929", having since lent about twenty thousand books and magazines free of charge.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsA notice in the Clarke Courier of 16 February 1939 placed a benefit bazaar "in the Hawthorne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments", and said the library had been given to Clarke County by Archibald Cummins and "first opened by him in December 1929", having since lent about twenty thousand books and magazines free of charge.
What the source supports
That the library and the Tappans' apartments were rooms in the same building in 1939: the overlapping uses, in one sentence, from a contemporary source.
Uncertainty
A prospective notice about a bazaar; the opening date it gives is the paper's own retrospective statement, and it differs from the 1935 headline. The apartments are not described further.
Source
Contemporary report Evidence role: supports. The bazaar sentence naming both the library rooms and the Tappan apartments.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Bazaar Planned For Hawthorne Library" (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageit is all going to happen at a Bazaar in the Haw[t]horne House in the rooms of the Library and Tappan apartments for the benefit of the Hawthorne Library to secure the services of a Librarian.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Contemporary report Evidence role: supports. The paragraph on Cummins and December 1929.
Clarke Courier, 1939-02-16, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1939-02-16 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, closing paragraph of the same notice (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passagethe Hawthorne Library in Berryville that was given to Clarke County by Mr. Archibald Cummins and first opened by him in Decem[b]er 1929. Since that time the institution has loaned to the public free of charge approximately 20,000 books and magazines.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Contemporary report Evidence role: complicates. The 1935 headline dating the library to 1930.
Clarke Courier, 1935-11-21, page 1
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1935-11-21 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline and opening paragraphs (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageAmazing Record Proves Usefulness of Hawthorne Library Established In 1930 ... The 2,000 books on the shelves cared for through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Tappan have been loaned out more than 6 times for each book.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Each statement above is assessed on its own evidence. Nothing here is averaged, scored or voted on, and a well-attributed account can be documented while what it describes stays unconfirmed.
What do the deeds and the county's early public-health and library records say about the 1919 clinic and the 1929 library?
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Go deeper: every source under this story Follow another threadThe Battletown Inn: one name, two sites
The house next door, which the same survey dates ten years earlier.