Virtually Restored-Greensboro, North Carolina’s Historic Magnolia House
Words by Trudy Haywood Saunders
Celebrities traveling from Richmond to Atlanta in the 1950s and 60s had an abundance of choices for lodging accommodations—unless of course they were African-American. Even if they were performing at The Ritz or The Carlotta Club, the list was much shorter for these travelers, regardless of notoriety, and on the top of that shortlist was The Historic Magnolia House Motel in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Built in 1889, the Queen Anne-style hotel began as a boarding house for whites only, and became a motel in 1949 after being acquired by Arthur and Louise Gist. The hotel’s guest list included the most notable musicians, artists, and athletes of the day, as well as everyday people looking for a safe place to spend the night. Jackie Robinson, Aretha Franklin, and James Baldwin all visited the property. “The stories that we hear are mostly from the community,” Natalie Pass-Miller, Magnolia House owner, says. “People tell us that they had their honeymoon here and used to play ball with James Brown out here in the street.” The hotel also cohosted the NAACP conference when it was held in Greensboro.
The Negro Motorist Green Books of the Jim Crow era consisted of lodging, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses that were considered safe for African-Americans at the time. Take a look at a late 1950s edition today, and a few of those businesses remain. The Magnolia House is an exception, but it could have easily disappeared as well. After the Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination, The Magnolia House struggled to compete with white businesses and fell into disrepair.
Samuel Pass, Natalie’s father, purchased the property in 1996 and began restoration. Their family legacy in Greensboro goes back generations, so Natalie left her career in healthcare IT and took over the preservation of the property about six years ago. “That’s a big part of what motivates and fuels the work that we do,” Pass-Miller says. The museum includes a family heritage wall in the dining room, chronicling the history of the hotel, as well as family members who have played important roles in Greensboro’s history.
The first three years were spent stabilizing the food operation. In 2021 they redoubled their restoration efforts. The restaurant came first, serving Sunday brunches and hosting special events. Signature items include fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, and other classic Southern favorites. The hotel and museum came next, and in January 2022, they opened the doors as an all-inclusive fully-restored Green Book hotel.
During COVID, the hotel launched Magnolia Shoebox Meals as part of their education program. Inside each shoebox, the recipient receives a menu of items similar to what the Negro traveler could eat safely with no safe place to stop. “They get a meal very similar to what Mama Gist would feed Louis Armstrong and everyone that stayed here,” Pass-Millers says. Cold fried chicken, country ham sandwiches, pound cake chunks, and a piece of fruit, were typical of what the woman of the house would have prepared for a journey, reducing traveling costs and allowing the family to avoid racial conflicts.
Today visitors can expect to experience a functionally and structurally fully-restored 1949 Green Book hotel that also serves as a living museum and restaurant. Four guest rooms named for past guests welcome visitors, designed with striking, bold colors of the hotel’s mid-century heyday. The Baldwin Room is named for the writers and intellectuals, such as James Baldwin and Carter G. Woodson. The shocking pink Carlotta Room is a favorite with female visitors, reminiscent of the female musical legends, including Tina Turner, Gladys Knight, and Lena Horne. A popular choice for sports fans, the Legends Room honors athletes such as baseball players Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige, and boxer Ezzard Charles. The final room, Kind of Blue, is named for the hotel’s musical guests, and honors the friendship between owner Buddy Gist and jazz musician Miles Davis.
The Magnolia House also hosts arts events, paying homage to the historic artists and musician guests who used to stay there and came out of Greensboro. “Our arts program is kind of a tribute to that. “One of my favorite parts about this house is the rich history,” Pass-Miller says.
“What the guests were like in their truly human self, which translated into past parties and joints, and all of the things like that.”
But preserving the past is only part of Pass-Miller’s vision for the historic property. In 2023, with support of Duke University and the National Park Service, they piloted a new project that uses augmented and virtual reality historic preservation tools. “The space can literally tell its own story, which was the overall goal and the mission of saving these sites,” Pass-Miller says. Guests can put on the virtual reality goggles and meet the legends from the Magnolia House’s past, listed on the National Register of Historic Places under its formal name, the Daniel D. Debutts House. “Magnolia House is a really good example of how we can take a historic site and bring it back to life,” Pass-Miller says. “Over 90 percent of these sites sit in low income areas, so family legacy and economic development are the main drivers behind what we do.”