Harrison Phoebus

Harrison Phoebus. "Being a friend to all". , Harrison Phoebus was born the youngest of 16 children in 1840 and grew up on a small farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He lost his father at an early age and had to forego much formal education in order to help his family scratch out a living. He did not lack energy. Whether tonging for oysters, working as a carpenter, hauling lumber, or building houses, he pushed himself to succeed., During the Civil War he served two years in the infantry on the Union side, then offered his services to the Adams Express Company in Baltimore, working as a wagon boy, special messenger, and finally station agent in the company's office at Old Point Comfort. He was practically a one-man band, adding jobs as agent for several rail and steamship lines, postmaster, and United States Commissioner. He sold insurance and made shrewd real estate investments. When the lavish Hygeia Hotel at Old Point Comfort went into decline, he and a backer from Adams Express gained control., "I will have the best hotel of its kind in the country and i will have the public know," he declared, and he would make good on this promise. After traveling widely to size up the competition, he added elevators, gas lights, electric bells in the rooms and baths of every description: Turkish, Russian, sulfur, and vapor, to name a few. The Hygeia became one of the best-known hotels in the country, with accommodations for 1,000 guests, many of them famous, who came to take the "airs" on the verge of the Chesapeake Bay., In 1881, when the C and O Railway began service from Richmond to Newport News, Phoebus helped convince the railroad to extend the line to what was then called Chesapeake City. Because of his role, the station stop was named Phoebus, and before long so was the post office. He had plans drawn up for "Roseland," a stately mansion, with magnificent gardens overlooking Hampton Roads. But before it was finished, Phoebus, just 45 years old died suddenly of a heart attack. He left a simple philosophy, "being a friend to all.", (caption) , Roseland Manor, home of Harrison Phoebus, was built in 1887 by C. Taylor Holzselaw and destroyed by fire in 1985.