< Gilley's story continued >
HOTELS GRAND PAST
In the early years of the 1900s, the hotel hosted grand parties, and old photographs captured the elegance. The fading old photos show women in beautiful formal dresses and men who are decked out formally in black bow ties and long coats.
"Bulls Gap was really something when the railroad was in its heyday," Haskins said," and we want to capture that atmosphere and preserve it for future generations".
While current museum displays are limited by space, Haskins says a much larger facility will open up " a whole new world for telling the railroad story."
John Peeler, a retired railroader and former mayor of the town who is now an active member of the museum association, says a larger facility is needed to house and display this vital part of Bulls Gap history.
"We certainly don't know about the future, but a lot of people are excited as they can be over the prospects of a really fine museum coming to Bulls Gap," Peeler said.
"If we can get the money, we can get the job done," Peeler added.
In addition to the railroad artifacts and memorabilia being acquired by the museum, a lot of interesting letters and personal experiences are popping up as more and more research is conducted.
Just this week, for instance, Haskins and other members of the association were enjoying an old letter from the 1800s.
"We don't know the name of the person who wrote the letter," Haskins said," but we do know that he was very impressed with Bulls Gap in general and the hotel in particular."
The letter, in part, says the hotel "is a modern, first class establishment in all that the term implies."
I grew up along the tracks of the old Southern, just a couple of miles east of the old hotel. But I never got to go there as a kid. The hotel was always for someone else.
There was always talk of the hotel. I heard it all the time. In the 1950s along the main line of the Southern, it seems the subject was always the Gilley's Hotel, yet I never got to go.
And that, perhaps more than anything, helps explain the charm and the mystique the old building still hold for some of us.
In the past it was always there, but never for us. It is still there, seemingly in arm's reach of the rails, and now it is our job to keep the charm and mystique alive for generations still unborn.
Bulls Gap is far different today from the time when steam locomotives were converging on the little town from all directions, but a lot of people are unwilling to let those memories die.
"I really believe this thing will fly," John Burkhart said. " This is still a railroad town, and I believe we are seeing a renewed interest in rail history among our young people.
"The railroad has played such a key role in the life of this community that we desperately need to keep the story alive for those who will follow.
"It is a story well worth telling, and if we don't tell it, it will not get told".
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