BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) – Hotel Thelma on Bluefield’s east end as well as the Travelers Hotel in downtown Bluefield have been selected to receive more than $50,000 for technical assistance. That’s according to the executive director of Bluefield’s Arts and Revitalization Corporation which owns the Travelers Hotel.

“We’ll have funding available up to $55,000 to be spread across both projects depending on need. We’ll be able to use those funds to hire an accountant, a lawyer, an architect. All the professionals necessary to take this vacant building and convert it into housing,” said Brian Tracey.

The two buildings were the only two hotel listings in the Greenbook which was the traveling guide published during the days of segregation, to help African American travelers find safe lodging as they headed into the south.

The hotels closed as legal segregation died. Now, the plan is to breath new life into them for their historical value with a modern purpose to help meet a need for housing.

“Two examples that we’re going to provide through these projects, there will still be a small retail space available in the Travelers Hotel for aspiring entrepreneurs. Hotel Thelma will bring back a restaurant which Thelma Stone ran for many decades,” said Tracey.

“We say it’s black history which it is but it’s also the history of the city. It’s history that needs to be told. Because if you don’t learn from your history, you’re destined to repeat it. We need to learn that history not just the history that we want to learn but all history,” said Hotel Thelma’s owner, Reverend James Mitchell.

Tracey says the two projects are among 29 others across Appalachia that were selected for the funding. He says in total 94 applications for technical assistance were submitted.

Once the technical assistance portion is complete, an investor event will be held in 2025. The event allows people involved in the two projects to network with investors from across the country.

The estimated price tag to restore both hotels in Bluefield is $4.5 million.

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